Christopher “Crash” Clark is the latest OG element added to alternative rock station 99X, returning to do traffic reports and comedic bits with the Morning X starting July 15.
Clark was a major component of the original incarnation of the morning show, which featured Steve Barnes, Leslie Fram and Jimmy Baron. When 99X returned in its current form in late 2022, the station brought back Barnes and Fram. (Baron has become a successful real estate agent and only pops in for the occasional guest role.)
He will continue to do traffic reports for his current job at 11Alive along with 99X. He will also contribute some on-air segments with Barnes and Fram.
“We’re all a little older and grayer. I’m a little thicker. But it’s the same shtick in radio. We’ll have some fun,” Clark told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an interview Thursday morning.
Brian Phillips, who oversees 99X for Atlanta-based Cumulus Media, said Clark remains “beloved and integral fixture in the Atlanta market. He comes in and out of our world in intervals. He’s self deprecating. He wears his heart on his sleeve. He lives his life loudly and we love him for that.”
Clark said he was first approached to join the Morning X again early last year but management at 11Alive said no. New management at 11Alive that came aboard last fall was more amenable to him doing double duty.
“I told them that it would be marketing,” he said. “We could share some audience. They’re biggest concern was workload. So this will be a trial run.”
He will be on the radio from 7-10 a.m. when 11Alive is airing the “Today” show. He will continue to do traffic cut ins for 11Alive at 7:26 a.m. and 8:26 a.m. but will also have time to feed the radio station traffic reports from 11Alive studios.
His first radio gig in Atlanta was with Power 99, the top 40 station, in 1989. He stayed on when the station became 99X in 1992. On the Morning X, he played the party-loving goofball. (He has been married and divorced three times. Now in his late 50s, he is single again.) He was also the traffic guy on hip-hop station Hot 97.5 as “Crash D.”
Clark was fired in 2005 from 99X after allowing a woman to perform a sex act with a patron at a bar in exchange for concert tickets. He later co-hosted a show in Boston with two other 99X alums, Rich Shertenlieb and Fred Toucher. He eventually returned to Atlanta and worked for Dave FM and V-103 before landing his TV gig at 11Alive in 2014.
He said he’s thrilled to see 99X doing so well in the ratings. The station in May was seventh among 25- to 54-year-olds, third among men 25 to 54 and sixth with 35- to 64-year-olds, according to Nielsen ratings.
“It’s hysterical,” Clark said. “I won’t be at American Pie at 2 a.m. on Saturday nights, but I’ll go to a few shows and do some stage announcements. Relive a little bit of the good times, bring back a chuckle.”
He said he’s been told, “We love Crash ― in small doses!”
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