itself shifted back to Hot AC, which it would remain for the next six years. Initially, the station had moderate success as I-96, but as other local radio stations (including sister station WOOD-FM) began putting more Hot AC-oriented acts on their Mainstream AC stations, the ratings began to slide by 2005. On October 18, 2005, the station flipped to a Jack FM clone called "MAX-FM". It gained the call sign of WMAX from another Clear Channel operation in Chattanooga, Tennessee on November 16, 2005. The station initially was programmed with over 1500 unique songs drawing from various pop music genres. As time went by, the list was honed down to less than 600 songs and the music was more focused on the 1980-early 2000s time period. After a rather respectable ratings showing, the ratings heavily slid by early 2007. On March 19, 2007, the station retooled itself into a Modern AC-leaning Hot AC presentation, known as "The NEW MAX-FM", which lasted until January 31, 2008. On January 31, 2008 at 3 PM, after the song Closing Time by Semisonic, the station dropped the Hot AC format and began stunting with the sounds of a ticking clock interspersed with liners that were played every two or three minutes. Some of these liners were in Spanish and made reference to Regent Communications-owned WNWZ AM 1410 and cold, snow-covered cornfields in Hudsonville, Michigan, while others mentioned the time and date of 02/04/08 at 10:01 AM. Songs which served as clues to what the new format would be were played. The songs included Coldplay's "Clocks"; Elvis Presley's "Burning Love"; David Allan Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name", and Hall & Oates' "Private Eyes", among dozens of others. During the stunt, the station's website showed a 12-second viral video clip influenced by the Cloverfield movie, with a message that pointed to the date of February 4, 2008 at 10:01 AM. A year later, WLHT-FM (owned by Regent, now Townsquare Media) would acquire the Adult Top 40 format that had been absent in Grand Rapids for more than a year. At exactly the promised time, the ticking clock stopped, and the new format, which is known as Radio X 96.1, began. The first song on Radio X was Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. The Radio X presentation heavily centered on modern rock music from the 1990s, as well as featured selected songs from