Tag Archives: Birmingham

The Radio Carousel: Rock 99.5 is no more; enter The Vibe

Posted on January 5, 2012 | 2 comments

995 vibe splash imageLong time listeners to Rock 99.5, a.k.a. WZRR-FM, recently learned their classic rock station was changing formats to CHR. The folks at Radio Insight first reported the change late last week after they noticed the site was down. As they point out via their format change watch list, it’s part of an annual trend – one that’s shows there’s not necessarily any set formula either.

There are folks online attempting to organize an Occupy 99.5 the VIBE fan page on Facebook, though the Bring the Rock back to Rock 99.5 fan page also exists. The pages have 115 fans and 201 fans respectively as of 8:15 AM Thursday morning (January 5). There’s also an interesting video on YouTube posted by BababoeyBHM – who incidentally just joined the video-sharing service the same day the piece was posted.

According to comments on both pages, comments being left on the VIBE’s page not supporting the format change are being deleted almost as soon as the entry is made.

This is the station’s fourth format change overall since its launch in 1977.

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Posted in radio

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Give them your pop tabs (or your time)

Posted on December 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

rmhcal-pop-tab-drop-offUPDATE: We still came in 5th – our 5th top five finish in nearly five years of existence. We appreciate it – now, see what we’d like you to do now.

We have a need for you to do something a little different for us this holiday season.

We don’t want you to vote for us in the annual Birmingham News’ Birmingham’s Best reader’s poll. There are much more deserving sites.

We do want you to take any pop tabs from cans you may drink from during your holiday trips or parties and take them to your local Ronald McDonald House. The photo included in this post is of the pop tab drop off location just outside the Ronald McDonald House located in the midst of Birmingham’s UAB medical campus. We’d also appreciate your considering any donations that could be made to them (or to consider other ways you can support them in the coming year).

This post on my personal blog should help explain some of the reasons behind our request.

Thanks, Birmingham (and happy 140th birthday)!

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Posted in Take a moment

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Get ready for Hey Octane Boy posts from Homewood

Posted on December 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

Updated below | Octane-Boy-screenshotThere have been rumblings since November (long proven true) that Atlanta’s Octane Coffee would be opening its first location out of state (and third overall) here in Alabama – specifically in Homewood. It’ll be next to the first location for parent company Fresh Hospitality‘s new fast casual restaurant Little Donkey. They’re currently scheduled to open this spring along Central Avenue.

They’ll be using beans roasted by Primavera Coffee Roasters, a locally owned favorite among area coffee drinkers (it was first written about back in October) with the long-time Cahaba Heights resident moving its operation into Octane’s space OTM.

The addition of the new restaurants to the local scene may also lead to us seeing photos of the shop’s male employees shared for all to see via the Hey, Octane Boy site on Tumblr. The chain had already received some attention earlier this year thanks to the “hipster barista” meme and now this relatively new fan boy site (eerily similar to one called Feminist Ryan Gosling and Hey girl, I heart NPR) has been recognized as the Eater.com website of the day and given a shout out on Foodista.

Can a Hey, Urban Standard boy site be far behind?

UPDATE (8/18/2012): It appears as though the building permit’s been issued for construction of the new space (thanks to Landon Howell)…

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Posted in Online, Quirky

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The tree’s almost ready in Linn Park

Posted on November 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

2011 Holiday tree gets trimmed in BirminghamThose venturing through Birmingham’s city center saw a couple of city crews on the southern edge of Linn Park working hard to get the 2011 Christmas tree decorated in time for its official lighting on Tuesday, December 6 (pdf).

The 40-foot Norway spruce arrived from Newland, NC on November 28. It’ll be strung with more than 5,000 lights in time for next week’s activities – these include the 4th Avenue Christmas Parade and an appearance by Santa & Mrs. Claus. It’s scheduled to take place between 5-7 p.m.

The city (and the region) is beginning to look a lot like Christmas (if it wasn’t already doing so back in late October). For example, if you were surfing through terrestrial radio stations in the car and you’re wondering if that was actually hearing Christmas music on Halloween, you weren’t imagining things.

Magic 96.5 decided it’s never too early to get into the spirit of the holiday season. They’ve been playing Christmas music since 7:15 Halloween morning – and they’re not stopping until Christmas Day. The ClearChannel-owned station’s press release stated that listeners had been requesting the annual format change for weeks via Facebook.

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Posted in 35203, Holiday

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Cruising and guzzling around metro Birmingham

Posted on July 21, 2011 | 2 comments

Soho Square development, downtown Homewood. via City-Data.comIt’s time again to take a look at the most walkable cities in the state of Alabama as rated by walkscore.com.

While the 2010 scores were only posted on this site back in mid-December, the new scores were released today and reported on by the Birmingham Business Journal.

Homewood repeats as the state’s most walkable city scoring a respectable 53 – down from last year’s score of 55. Birmingham’s score remained steady at 40. While the score stayed the same, the city is now tied for second statewide with Selma and Florence.

The release of this year’s rankings coincided with the unveiling of an infographic created by online money management service Mint.com earlier this week. It lists Birmingham as the No. 2 Guzzler city among its users, with them averaging $216/month for gas.

We figured we’d do a comparison similar to the one we conducted in December – sharing the average amount spent per month in the cities visited by the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce as part of the B.I.G. trips taken between 2002-2008. They’re again listed in the order they were visited:

  • St. Louis – $136 – Teetotaler
  • Baltimore – $136 – Teetotaler
  • Charlotte – $195 – Guzzler
  • Nashville – $149 – Sipper
  • Pittsburgh – $155 – Sipper
  • Denver – $112 – Teetotaler
  • Austin – $169 – Gulper
It may be helpful to check out how Fast Company’s Co.Design blog presented and interpreted the data – specifically how it related to lists of the best places to live.

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Posted in transportation

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Time to SeeClickFix Birmingham

Posted on July 21, 2011 | 2 comments

SeeClickFix logoA search of the site in recent weeks may have led you to a page labeled SeeClickFix (though there wasn’t anything on it). That changed last night.

That’s when we became the latest site to add a SeeClickFix widget. The service launched in late 2008 and we’ve been talking with them about its potential in Birmingham, AL since early 2010.

Think of it as a digital 311 system. Non-emergencies reported via the widget embedded on our site or via any of the mobile apps available are shared directly with City Hall’s 311 Call Center.

As you can see, folks are already using the service to report issues. The more folks using the service, the more effective it can be. Video and photo submissions are also accepted. Selfishly, it also provides an opportunity for local media outlets to get an idea of what’s going on out there (though nothing really replaces face-to-face – or just getting out there – but it helps).

Hop on over, check it out and spread the word!

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Posted in Citywide, The Terminal

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BJCC posts Marketplace renderings online via Facebook

Posted on June 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

Marketplace General OverviewThe BJCC posted architectural renderings of their long-planned entertainment district to their fan page on Facebook yesterday.

The proposal has gone before (and was approved by) Birmingham’s Design Review Committee in April and a drive by the construction site gives folks the impression that substantial work will begin soon. There were some concerns about a digital sign included in the design proposal though it appears as though they’ve been settled. Visitors to the fan page’s post have offered additional feedback on the design and the project.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new development, including a new hotel, restaurants and shops, was held back in late-January.

They also announced that there would be a link to a progress camera in the coming weeks and hinted that they’d be taking suggestions for the development’s name. Its working name is currently The Marketplace.

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Posted in BJCC, Development

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