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KIIS FM Studios
On July 28th, 1999 I drove up to
KIIS FM studios in Burbank with my friend, Ruby. 98 Degrees wasn’t supposed to get
there until 8pm, but we wanted to be early and beat the crowd of people, so we left
at 4pm and got there at around 6:45pm. It took us forever to get there because of
traffic. But it was cool cause there were only two other people waiting outside
when we got there. Before we had left, we decorated Ruby’s car with white shoe polish
so it read "We Love 98º" and "98 Degrees Rocks." People looked at us pretty weird
while we were driving, but we liked it. At 7:15, the KIIS people let the people
with in studio tickets go inside. That was about 15 people – only 15 people out
of 40 showed up. I had written a letter to the guys and to the DJ (JoJo). The letter
detailed all the "crazy" things me and Ruby had done for 98º and it begged JoJo
to let us up to meet the guys. I gave the letter to some girls so they could personally
give it to 98º when they got to meet them. When the people with passes went up,
there were still about 25 of us fans that were waiting outside. Security was being
sooo mean and they wouldn’t let any of the real fans inside (the ones that drove
50+ miles just to see them), even though all of us, and then some, could fit in
the studio. Then they made the 25 of us go wait on the sidewalk – about 500 feet
from the building. We think they wanted to make it look to 98º like they had no
fans! It was quite surprising that only about 40 of us eventually accumulated outside
of KIIS. No Authority had recently drawn thousands of fans. When 98 Degrees showed
up, we were waiting and held up posters and screamed at their van as it entered
the parking lot. Then, as the guys walked inside to the elevators from the parking
garage, all 40 of us fans rushed/ran to them. I think we scared Nick half to death.
Well they waved and then went up the elevators to the 6th floor where the KIIS studio
is located. There were KIIS people down on the street with us. They promised us
that we would be able to ask the guys lots of questions. As the night wore on, it
became clear that we would not be able to ask even one question. Everyone downstairs
on the street was ready to riot! The people of 102.7 KIIS FM lied to us so much.
They said that if fans came down to the studio they might be able to get inside
if someone on the list didn’t show up. Well about 35 people didn’t show up and still
they wouldn’t let us up. The guys were up there for about an hour and took questions
from the phones and they played a few 98º songs. At one point they let the people
on the street speak, and some girl just said something stupid about how it was "heating
up" down on the street now that 98 Degrees was here. Then again later they supposedly
let us on the radio – we couldn’t tell because we were so loud. Everyone was screaming
(they told us to) and we chanted to the guys "come down here," which they obviously
didn’t hear because they didn’t come down. Well, then the girls that had gone upstairs
to the studio with the guys came down. The girls we gave our letter to said that
they had given it to the guys. Ruby and me were so happy and thankful to them! Then
98º left the studio. Again, when they walked from the elevators to the parking garage,
we ran up to the glass, Nick jumped to the window and they all waved to us, it was
cool. (Note: Drew didn’t have his hat on) Then we all waited around outside the
parking lot entrance for the guys’ van to come out, but it never did. It went driving
by really fast on the street! Me and Ruby decided not to follow them, we had had
enough of that for one week. So we drove home. About 20 minutes from home, Ruby
checked her voice mail on her cellular phone that she takes everywhere with her.
Along with two messages from her sister, there was a
personal message from Justin Jeffre
himself!!!!!!!! When she first heard the message, she screamed "Justin, 98º!!!"
I thought she had called the radio station or something, but then she told me Justin
of 98º actually called us! We were in a state of pure ecstasy! All we could say
was "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!!" Justin had called her to thank us for
the letter we wrote he said "Hey Ruby, this is uh Justin from 98 Degrees and
I just got your letter. Sorry we didn't get to meet you guys. Uh it's a very sweet
letter and we want you to know that we appreciate uh your enthusiasm about the group
and everything and our music. And uh sorry we didn't get to meet you guys, but uh
we just wanna send you lots of love. You all take care. We love you. Peace."
Cool huh?!? This was the best experience of my life!! Justin, if you ever
read this, thank you soo much! You are da bomb! That message was left on her phone
at 11:10pm July 28th, 1999. We know it is from Justin and not some random guy because
that is about the time that the guys left from the studio, and that was definitely
Justin’s voice, I’d know it anywhere! But for some reason, no one believes us when
we say he called us... well we know better and we don't care what anyone else says
- we know the truth! I must have listened to the message about 10 times, and I hope
I can tape it somehow so I’ll have it forever, that was so cool. We love 98 Degrees!
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