As a metal head I was introduced to 1059 The X with David Draimen's "monkey noise" in the song Down With the Sickness by Disturbed back in 2001 and have rarely changed the dial since. Over the past 10 years the station seems to have struggled keeping a hard rock format and have since incorporated a TON of alternative rock and "stoner music" (think Bob Marley, Sublime, 311, etc.). Honestly, I only like around 55% of the music I hear on this station anymore. So what keeps me listening from 6:30am when I start my morning commute till 3:00pm when my personal opinion of Mark Madden makes me put on my iPod or satellite radio? The DJs. And I don't count "Double M" "The Super Genius" aka MALE CHAUVINIST PIG, as a DJ. In the morning, Tim and Bob keep me laughing with stories and jokes, and dumb callers. They keep me up to date on local, national news, international news, sports, and celebrity gossip. But the show is geared more towards the male demographic, so there is stripper and boobie talk as well. There are daily hilarious Darwin Award styled stories called "Shallow End of the Gene Pool" and a weekly "Dumb Dumber and Dumberest" segment where you can vote for the call that was the "dumbest moment from the week that was." Every Friday they will also play a "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" style game where a caller plays against an attractive girl for prizes. If you don't mind some sexism, Tim and Bob will keep you entertained. During the working hours, Whipping Boy takes over the radio. Whip has a nice loyal fan base, and no wonder. He is genuinely a nice guy and does a lot of good in the community. Whip starts his program at 10am by playing 9 songs from the 90's. Every day at noon he, with listener help, chooses a theme and plays 6-8 songs to fit the theme. Examples include, 90's songs, Y2K songs, songs with colors n the title, etc. At around 1:15pm he plays the day time pick of the litter, where he plays a song and listeners vote via phone or text messaging on whether to keep the song or "Dio" it. If a song is "Dio-ed" Whip plays Rainbow in the Dark and belts along to the lyrics to "cleanse the musical palate from the awful pick". Alby Oxenreiter makes an appearance daily as well to talk sports. Whipping Boy does charity work. He frequently hosts successful blood drives and, as a dog lover, has the Washington Area Humane Society bring in a dog every Thursday to try and find him/her a home. (Can you tell I LOVE Whip?) Mark Madden is on from 3pm-6pm. 'Nuff said. Then Abby takes the air from 6pm-10pm(?). Not the best station if you prefer older metal, but then again there aren't any good stations in the Pittsburgh area for that kind of fix. read more

Since the mid 90's, 105.9 the X (WXDX) is the only place that those who are looking for modern and alternative rock can turn to in the Pittsburgh area. Over the years, the X has went from being a good, solid alternative station with mornings covered by the legend Howard Stern, to a Morning Show with wanna-be's Tim Benz and some other guy, (Bob I think?) and a horrible playlist with little to no flow. There used to be a GREAT alternative station on 104.7 called the Revolution, but it got blown up and most of it's staff went to WXDX after they switched from 106.7 to 105.9. Today, the X's music selection sucks. Their lack of new music sucks. The station's only real entertainment is Mark Madden who does a sports/porn star review show from 3PM-6PM weekdays. They are also the flagship radio station of the Pittsburgh Penguins and broadcast all of their games. WXDX also has an HD-2 station that is all Pens, which is actually quite good. The rarely play any NEW alternative or modern rock singles, and when they do, they are months late! I don't get it. The X is a Clear Channel station. Clear Channel has format lab stations called 'Rock Nation' as well as 'Rock Nation Top 20', they play far more NEW rock than the X ever does. Why? I don't wanna hear the same old rotation of 20 songs for months before they decide to change the playlist. I don't wanna hear the Beastie Boys, Bob Marley and Moby called "Alternative Rock". I wanna hear NEW ROCK SINGLES and good late 80's and 90's alternative rock classics. Other stations do this well. See 987 FM in Los Angeles (also a clear channel station). Other than Mark Madden, I just don't listen to the X. The only radio station in Pittsburgh worth listening to is 1020 KDKA-AM. Why? As a news/talk station, at least I can hear something NEW and informative. For music, I stick to my iPod and various radio apps on my iPhone. If the X did not have a long term radio deal with the Pens and Mark Madden, I have a feeling they would be on the chopping block. They are never high in the ratings and they fail to play new music on a regular basis. There's not much alternative about that. The X should move Madden to mornings, or ditch the morning show and just play music, that is, if they fix their playlist! The X has a HORRIBLE music playlist. They play pretty much the same 20-30 songs on a loop for a month or so before changing the playlist. Or hell, they could change to a 'Hot Talk' format and still broadcast Pens games and I bet they'd have better ratings. Throw Opie and Anthony, Mark Madden and Tom Leykis on one station...it would be great! WDVE will always be the rock big dog in town ,but man it would be great to have a station with the balls to play new and classic rock together, like 93.7 K-Rock did. That station was great, but Howard Stern going to satellite killed them in CBS Radio's eyes. Speaking of Stern, the X was so lame that they allowed clear channel to kick Stern off the air back in the day. HA! Then brought in Alan Cox to mornings, who was decent, but then fired him. Yeah, he does a show in Cleveland on rock station WMMS. Pretty good stuff. Good luck to WXDX. I hope they wake up and make their station great again. read more

I love the alternative rock the X plays. Mixing up Linkin Park, 5FDP, Disturbed, Staind - some older and some recent. I appreciate the DJ info on the songs or local happenings. I want tunes! Sadly, the music is interrupted by talk for hours in it's scheduled program. Don't get me wrong, I like Pgh. sports, even when the commentary is coming from a guy who sounds like he's always yelling and going out of breath, but I'll tune to a talk station for that. I don't understand why they ruin it for hours...in the afternoon...during evening traffic hours. read more

As a Wheeling, WV native now living in Martins Ferry, OH (just across the river), we get some access to this station. However, our main rock station is WEGW (Eagle 107.5, also CC owned). Coming from someone who has only main access to WEGW's fetish of Rolling Stones and that (nothing wrong with them, but...play something DIFFERENT once in a while) and "conservative rock", it's not a lot of times that I get the chance to listen to WXDX, and thus, I do so whenever I can. Mark Madden is a polarizing figure to have on the radio, and more or less their most controversial. First starting in WCW as a color commentator beside the legendary Tony Schiavone (at least legendary in my mind), then on ESPN Radio before getting fired there to The X, Madden has been known to have a very chauvinist view on sports. Though he's right on things like Big Ben and those guys, he can delve into the obnoxious and annoying. He's known to insult callers on air for things they cannot control, but that's Mark for you. He still has yet to let go of the "heel" persona that he had in WCW. The music is good. Yeah, it's mainstream, but coming from someone who doesn't have an Alt station in the Wheeling/Steubenville market that can only listen to the X if you have a good radio antenna or on the iHeartRadio smartphone app, it's better than what WEGW has been playing (Wheeling doesn't currently have any Alt/Modern Rock station). I'm fine with the music selection, though I would like for them to bring out some rarer finds and things that not many other stations will play. Then again, this is a Clear Channel owned station, and we all KNOW about Clear Channel. The DJ's are good, too. I don't listen much to the morning show, but Whipping Boy I have. The Pick of the Litter is a good way to vote on the X playlist selection, though sometimes the decisions, such as the recent Coldplay "Paradise" Dio-ed decision can be controversial because there's only the "yes or no" decisions, and people can be on the fence about a song when Whip is thinking all or nothing for it (by the way, they are currently letting the debate about "Paradise" go to its Facebook page). We've already talked about the self-proclaimed "Supergenius", of course. Abby is, in my mind, one of the hottest DJs I've seen in a while (seriously, take a look at one of her pics on their site). She likes much harder rock than what CC will let her play, but she seems to really enjoy her job there and care about the music she plays. She also has a Pick of the Litter spot (perhaps a continuation of Whip's selection). They do something, though, that I LOVE, which is they will play the song BEFORE telling you the artist and title of the song. That way, you can't dismiss the song based on the artist alone. They force you to actually LISTEN to the actual SONG. I wish more stations that did this kind of thing did it in this manner. The special shows are a mixed bag. The Litter thing we know. Local Listen is where they play a song from a band within the area. Prehistoric X is more 80s/New Wave (The Police, Depeche Mode, and Devo), and Edge of the X is new music and local music. Edge isn't as great because you don't know what you're getting, but Pre-X, though the name sounds odd, is a perfect way for those that haven't heard certain songs in a long time can listen to them, though, again, keep in mind that it's still CC that owns the station. Oh, and no one's mentioned yet the final aspect of this station: they are the flagship station for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Basically, they're the official station for the Pens Radio Network, broadcasting each game. They play both the game and the Pens Hotline Post Game Show. Whenever a game is on tap that night, Mark Madden will stay an extra hour for hockey discussion, mostly about the matchup for that night. All in all, for those in the outlining areas that don't have immediate access to this format station, The X fills the void. Madden can be obnoxious, and we are talking Clear Channel here, but it's a good station nonetheless. Finally, to Darren W, you have a lot of anger directed at the station that's not about the station. There is WDVE that's in Pittsburgh, as well. Perhaps that's more your station (though that won't agree with you any more about your biased, baseless opinion of Big Ben). read more