Yvonne Monet, one of the key players who made 99X the alternative rock powerhouse in the 1990s, is returning to radio for the first time in many years. She will become the midday host of Top 40 station Q99.7, replacing Rachel Ryan, who lost her job last month.
Louie Diaz, who runs Q99.7, said research shows she is super popular among listeners.
Monet while at 99X in the 1990s hosted the weekend dance show “The Beat Factory,” a sex advice show “The Pleasuredome” and other specialty programs for the station. She later ran a restaurant and bar and then spent several years at the former rock station Dave FM. Over three decades, she has been an event DJ for weddings, corporate events and parties galore.
“I’m delighted to join the team and my friends at Q99.7,” Monet wrote on her public Facebook page. “I’m such a fan of the Bert Show and this opportunity was quite an unexpected surprise but the only thing that kept me from moving to the woods and embracing my cat lady recluse future. I hope you’ll listen and be gentle as I find my way back on the airwaves and attempt to make complete sentences without swearing. I couldn’t be more thrilled. And I’m ready for us to dance together when it’s safe.”
Diaz said he plans to give Monet more leeway than a typical midday jock gets when it comes to what she plays.
“The idea is to do a lot of content in middays,” Diaz said, “a lot of music stuff. We can do mix shows. We can do a TikTok mix or an old-school mix. We can do mixes of songs from the 20 years of Q99.7.” (Q99.7, which launched in 2001, changed its name from Q100 in early 2019.) He also wants her to provide plenty of content for social media.
Monet isn’t a stranger to Q99.7. She has worked for many years with the morning show, the Bert Show, as the DJ for its annual “Girls Night Out” promotion.
On her website, Monet explains her approach to DJing events.
“I suppose I still treat every show as though I’m auditioning for my first gig on the radio,” she said. “In a sense, I am. My business success has been due to my reputation and referrals. I put it all out there for every show — large or small.”
When asked about what she was doing in the early 1990s on 99X in an interview in 2017 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the station’s launch, Monet said, “It’s funny to hear people talk about EDM. Yeah. That was kind of what we were doing 25 years ago. Every generation has its own name for it. The ratings were through the roof for my show in that time slot. It was a great experience.”
On Q99.7, she will be heard from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays.
Evening jock Jade Jones will take over Adam Bomb’s slot from 3-7 p.m., joined by Bert Show host Moe Mitchell. Diaz would like to create a personality-based two-person afternoon team, something the station has never tried before.
Mitchell, who joined the Bert Show in 2018, will continue to work with the morning show, so he’ll juggle two shifts.
Bomb, who also goes by Adam Baum but is actually Adam Hapeman, had a long history with Q100/Q99.7.
He began at Q100 in 2006 at night and left in 2010 for a morning show job in Dallas. In 2012, Q100 brought him back in syndicated form at night while he stayed in Dallas, first with Perez Hilton, then solo. In 2017, he took over afternoons. He will continue to do a night syndicated show on many Cumulus stations but won’t be heard in Atlanta anymore.
Bomb posted on his public Facebook page a note on Monday, January 18 thanking Q99.7. “To me radio is meant to make a difference and serve the community and anyone you come into contact with,” he wrote. “Things change and change can be tough, but nothing stops His plan.”
He noted he continues to do his syndicated night show with Westwood One, the syndication arm for Cumulus. “Cumulus Media is great,” he said. “I love the leadership and I’m fortunate to do daily and weekend shows in Houston, Youngstown [PA] and Montgomery [ALA] as well as do national commercials.”
The Q99.7 evening slot is now open, and Diaz is hunting for a replacement.
Management at Atlanta-based Cumulus Media said the strategy Q99.7 is taking is to counter the growth of Spotify and Pandora and all the streaming services by providing listeners something different: more personality throughout the day. This is the opposite of what the other three pop stations in town have been doing. Power 96.1 just got rid of all its local jocks and Star 94 recently reduced its staff as well. B98.5, the most popular pop station in town, has always focused on music.
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