Nine-O-One Network

Nine-O-One Network Magazine

Rolling Stone Ron Wood cover story, October 1986 issue
Categories	Music magazine
Frequency	Bi-monthly
Founded	1986 (1986)
First issue	1986 (1986) (September/October)
Final issue	1989 (1989)
Company	Nine-O-One Network, Inc.
Country	United States
Based in	Memphis, Tennessee
Language	English
OCLC	24881957

Nine-O-One Network Magazine was an American bi-monthly music magazine, published in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1986 to 1989.

Beginnings

The magazine originated during the heralded 1986 "Class of '55" recording session in Memphis with Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins. Producer Chips Moman asked James L. Dickerson, a reporter with The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis, if he would create a magazine that could be used as part of a sales package for a telemarketing campaign for the album. Dickerson agreed to do it without fee if Moman would allow him to name the magazine, copyright it, and use it to launch a bi-monthly music magazine. Moman agreed, and the magazine was named Nine-O-One Network, the name derived from Memphis's telephone area code, 901. Dickerson resigned from The Commercial Appeal to publish the magazine so that he would not have a conflict of interest.

The first subscription check to arrive in the mail came from Cash. Soon afterward a subscription check arrived from Lewis.

By the end of the first year, the full-color, slick paper magazine had newsstand circulation in fourteen states. By the end of 1987 it was sold on newsstands in all 50 states and throughout Canada, and in selected cities in Portugal, Japan, Australia and the Soviet Union. The distributor was Capital Distribution Co. of Derby, Connecticut. At its peak, the magazine had a circulation of 100,000 which made it the third-largest music magazine in the United States, behind Rolling Stone and Spin.

Initially, the magazine was financed by Dickerson, who used his savings and cashed in his life insurance policy to live on and pay start-up costs. The magazine was incorporated in the State of Tennessee and preferred common stock was offered, all of it purchased by 25 Mississippi and Tennessee investors.

The first issue featured a photograph of Cash, Perkins, Orbison and Lewis. The second issue featured Rolling Stone Ron Wood as the cover story, with inside articles about Belinda Carlisle, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Steve Warner and Sweethearts of the Rodeo. The eclectic mix reflected the magazine's philosophy that a true American music magazine should contain articles about all the major forms of native music – rock and roll, country, blues and jazz.

Magazine highlights

• The first magazine published in the South to obtain nationwide newsstand circulation
• The first music magazine to do feature articles on sexual harassment in the music industry
• The first music magazine to routinely publish glossy, full-color photographs of country artists

Covers

• Issue 1 – Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins
• Issue 2 – Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones
• Issue 3 – Deborah Allen
• Issue 4 – Aimee Mann
• Issue 5 – Robert Cray
• Issue 6 – Gregg Allman
• Issue 7 – Elvis Presley
• Issue 8 – David Bowie and Ringo Starr
• Issue 9 – The Bangles and B.B. King
• Issue 10 – Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart; Waylon Jennings
• Issue 11 – Dan Fogelberg, Willie Nelson and Yes

Contents

Issue 2, September/October 1986

• Cover story on Rolling Stone Ron Wood written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on Belinda Carlisle and Charlotte Caffey of the Go-Go's written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on the Fabulous Thunderbirds written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on Steve Wariner written by Bill Stuart (Brown Burnett)
• Interview with Sweethearts of the Rodeo written by Robert Jenkins (James L. Dickerson)
• Interview feature on Rob Jungklas written by Dawn Baldwin
• Interview feature on the making of Carl Perkins' video for "Birth of Rock 'n' Roll" written by James L. Dickerson

Issue 3, November/December 1986

November 1986 issue with Deborah Allen on the cover

• Cover story on Deborah Allen written by James L. Dickerson
• Q&A with EMI music executives Michael Barackman and Dick Williams
• Interview feature on the Main Attraction written by Dawn Baldwin
• Interview feature on Bobby Womack written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on Marty Stuart written by Robert Jenkins (James L. Dickerson)
• Interview feature with guitarist Lonnie Mack written by Angela Fox (Brown Burnett)
• Interview Feature with Lacy J. Dalton written by James L. Dickerson

Issue 4, January/February 1987

• Cover story on 'Til Tuesday's Aimee Mann written by Dawn Baldwin
• Q&A interview with CBS Records/Nashville chief Rick Blackburn
• Interview feature on T. Graham Brown written by Dawn Baldwin
• Interview feature on Jim Weatherly written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on Jason and the Scorchers written by Dawn Baldwin
• "The Next Memphis Thing" written by James L. Dickerson, a feature on the women of Memphis music: Klaudia Kroboth, Pam Childs-Davis, Susanne Jerome Taylor, Reba Russell, Vicki Tucker, and Ella Brooks
• Interview feature on Journey written by Dawn Baldwin
• Interview feature on Rodney Crowell written by James L. Dickerson

Issue 5, March/April 1987

• Cover story on Robert Cray written by James L. Dickerson
• Q&A interview with Gregg Geller, vice president of RCA Records' international A&R division
• Feature on Trader Jon's (Part 1), Pensacola nightclub written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on country artists The O'Kanes written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on heavy metal group Europe written by Luann Williams
• Interview feature on the hard-rock band Cinderella by Robert Thomas (James L. Dickerson)
• Interview feature on The Shooters, a Muscle Shoals recording group written by Dawn Baldwin

Issue 6, May/June 1987

• Cover story on Gregg Allman written by James L. Dickerson
• Feature on Trader Jon's (Part 2), a Pensacola nightclub famous for being the unofficial cradle of American naval aviation written by James L. Dickerson
• Q&A interview with Mose Allison
• Interview feature with Asleep at the Wheel written by Nancy Oates
• Interview feature on the Fabulous Thunderbirds' Memphis album written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on country artist Ricky Van Shelton written by Nancy Oates
• "Radio Women of the South" written by James L. Dickerson

Issue 7, July/August 1987

• Cover story on Elvis Presley, 10 years after his death written by Nancy Randall
• Q&A interview with MTV founder Robert Pittman
• "The Men Who Shot Elvis" by Nancy Randall, about photographers Ernest Withers, Dave Darnell and Bill Speer
• Interview feature on the Georgia Satellites by Robert Thomas (James L. Dickerson)
• Interview feature on Cutting Crew written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on T. G. Sheppard written by Robert Thomas (James L. Dickerson)
• Interview feature on Judy Rodman written by Nancy Randall
• Interview feature on Jimmy Davis written my Nancy Randall
• Interview feature on Omar & the Howlers written by Bill Stuart (Brown Burnett)

Issue 8, October 1987

• Cover story on David Bowie written by Carinthia West
• "America's favorite Morning DJs" written by Nancy Randall
• Interview feature on Rosanne Cash written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on Charlie Daniels written by Nancy Randall
• Interview feature on David Sanborn written by James L. Dickerson
• Feature on Ringo Starr written by James L. Dickerson
• "Where Are They Now?" written by Nancy Randall, a look at the Box Tops, the Gentrys, the Kingsmen and the Mar-Keys
• Interview feature on Stevie Ray Vaughan written by Bill Stuart (Brown Burnett)
• Interview feature on Jennifer Rush written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on Survivor's Jimi Jamison written by Nancy Randall, with a photo by James L. Dickerson

Issue 9, December 1987

Cover of the December 1987 issue

File:Vicki Peterson, guitarist.jpg

Bangles lead guitarist Vicki Peterson in Memphis. Photo by James L. Dickerson, copyright 1987

• Cover story feature on the Bangles written and photographed by James L. Dickerson
• Feature on Don Nix's photographs of George Harrison, Joe Cocker, Albert King, and Furry Lewis written by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on B. B. King written by James L. Dickerson
• Q&A Interview with Chet Atkins
• Feature on the importance of hair in the music business by Nancy Randall
• Feature interview on country artists Exile written by Nancy Randall
• Feature interview on ex-Blaster Dave Alvin written by Nancy Randall

Issue 10, February 1988

• Cover story on Heart written by James L. Dickerson
• Feature on Sexual Harassment in the Music Industry written by Nancy Randall
• Interview with RCA Records/Nashville chief Joe Galante
• Profile on Otis Redding written by Bill Stuart (Brown Burnett)
• Interview feature on Jackson Browne written by Holly Gleason
• Interview feature with Waylon Jennings written by Katy Bee
• Interview feature on Nanci Griffith written by Nancy Randall

Issue 11, April 1988

• Cover story on Dan Fogelberg written by James L. Dickerson
• Interviews with Tanya Tucker, Kathy Mattea, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, and Willie Nelson by James L. Dickerson
• Interview feature on Ry Cooder written by Holly Gleason
• Interview feature on YES written by Holly Gleason
• Interview feature with Kenny G written by Linda Enis
• Interview feature with the Radiators
• Interview feature with Guadalcanal Diary written by Michele Hargis
• Review of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets' album "Sins" reviewed by Winton Washington
• Feature on Ricky Nelson written by Bill Stuart (Brown Burnett)

Information for music scholars

Back issues of Nine-O-One Network Magazine are available at:

• Memphis, Tennessee, Public Library, Benjamin Hooks Central Library [1]

Magazine spin-off

In 1988, the magazine formed a spin-off company to produce a radio syndication called Pulsebeat – Voice of the Heartland. With James L. Dickerson as executive producer, the company produced two programs – a 30-minute, weekly country music program that was carried by about 60 radio stations from coast to coast, and a 60-minute blues program that was produced in partnership with Helena, Arkansas, radio station KFFA-Am, which had broadcast since 1941 the universally acclaimed King Biscuit Time' show.

Both syndicated programs featured radio personality Kim Spangler. Veteran King Biscuit announcer "Sunshine" Sonny Payne, KFFA general manager George Hays and Memphis radio personality Henry Nelson also hosted segments on the blues show. The weekly blues show was broadcast by 40 stations from New York to the Yukon. Featured guests included Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Melissa Etheridge and Little Milton. Pulsebeat—Voice of the Heartland ceased operations in 1990.

See also

• List of defunct American magazines
• List of music magazines