'N-SYNC "Gone"

Weeks of a rumored format-flip culminated into a staff meeting one afternoon at the radio station. Management told the sales and programming staffs to meet in the conference room at 3:00 P.M for an announcement -- some folks weren't as lucky. They were invited to an earlier meeting at 2:00 P.M. where they were fired. I mistakenly figured this out when I arrived early for the 3 P.M. meeting and noticed both desks of my colleagues were emptied. All the papers pinned to their bulletin board: gone. All their personal items (photographs, press credentials, and fan mail): gone. The radio station did flip formats that following day resulting in half the air staff being dismissed. The lesson I learned that day: it's never a good thing to be invited to the meeting before the meeting.

'N-Sync "This I Promise You"

My first foray into AOL chat rooms happened in 2000 when I sat using my mom's house computer one late Saturday night. While checking email, a pop-up box exploded onto the extra-large monitor that said "You live in Schererville???". Against any advice I would offer someone today, I responded with a resounding "Yes!" followed by a couple questions about how she knew this information and also who the heck she was. Some young girl who claimed to live in Schererville was on the other end of this message. At this point, I was actually living in Chicago, but my AOL account still listed me as living in Schererville, Indiana. After some more introductions, she asked what I did for a living. Instead of telling her about my full-time job (selling classified ads to dog breeders for a national magazine), I revealed my part-time gig: radio DJ at Windy 100 in Chicago.

Her response: "Cool. Do you play 'N-SYNC????"

"Indeed, I do," I said knowing that the only song we played was "This I Promise You" (which was written by former Adult Contemporary darling Richard Marx). She was pretty excited to hear this and promised to listen (I worked midnight until 5am, so I doubt she ever did).

From what I remember, I again heard from that same girl months later when I was back at my mom's house using her AOL. The second time her message was nothing more than "HEY!" so I certainly hope she finally found something else to do.

Gloria Estefan & 'N-Sync "Music of My Heart"

Adult Contemporary stalwart Gloria Estefan teamed up with (arguably) the hottest boy band at the close of the 20th Century to record the radio-friendly ballad "Music of My Heart". Pulled from the soundtrack of the movie with the same name, the song found a home all across the radio dial. The wildly successful tune snagged two Grammy nominations, an Academy Award nomination and peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary Charts in 1999.

*N-Sync "(God Must've Spent) A Little More Time on You"

If you went out and bought the CD single to *N-Sync's "(God Must've Spent) A Little More Time on You", you also received quite a smooth little treat: the single's B-side was a live cover of "Sailing" from Christopher Cross.