WPIG
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| City of license | Olean, New York |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Olean/Bradford/Jamestown |
| Branding | 95.7 The Big Pig |
| Slogan |
Today's Sizzlin' Country Today's Fun Country The only station that dares to give away cash |
| Frequency | 95.7 |
| First air date | 1949 (current format began in 1989) |
| Format | Mainstream country |
| ERP | 43,000 watts |
| HAAT | 226 meters |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | W PIG |
| Owner | Community Broadcasters, LLC |
| Website | http://www.wpig.com/ |
WPIG is an FM radio station located in Olean, New York. Branded as the "Big Pig," "The Pig" or simply by its frequency and callsigns at times, the station operates at 95.7 MHz on the FM dial and operates a mainstream country music format. It is owned by Community Broadcasters, LLC.
History
The station originally signed on as WHDL-FM in 1949 and in its early years was affiliated, like most upstate New York FMs of the time, with WQXR in New York City. James F. Hastings, later a U.S. Congressman, ran the station from 1952 to 1966. The call sign was changed from WHDL-FM to WEBF-FM in recognition of station owner E. Boyd Fitzpatrick. During the 1980s, the station aired what today's jockeys pejoratively referred to as an "elevator music" (likely something along the lines of middle-of-the-road, beautiful music or easy listening) format. In September of 1988, under new ownership, the station was known as WOLN (not to be confused with FM 91.3, the public radio station that uses the call signs) with an adult contemporary format. A year later, on September 29, 1989, the call sign was changed to WPIG. Later, on November 6, mirroring the national trend, the station switched formats to the rapidly burgeoning country music format and became known as "The Big Pig 95.7, Today's Sizzlin' Country," which remains the station's motto.
During the first several years of the country format, WPIG disc jockeys used pseudonyms with pig-based puns, such as: "Smokin' Joe Bacon," "Michael Hamm," "Peggy Banks," and "Christopher Neggs" (the first incarnation of The Morning Pigpen's hosts were thus bacon, ham, 'n'eggs). This idea was dropped in the late 1990s as the second generation of disc jockeys would join the station, all of whom used more conventional names. Hamm (who still uses his original pseudonym) and Neggs (who now uses his real name, Nick Purcio) have since rejoined the station.
Most of the second generation of WPIG jockeys left the station in the late 2000s; most are working at other stations in Cattaraugus County. Mark Thompson, the program director and co-host of the morning show, is the last remaining on-air personality from this era. This cleared the way for the third generation of hosts that currently air on the station. WPIG added the slogan "Today's Fun Country" in 2009, which rotates with the "Sizzlin' Country" format. Also added around this time was the Big Pig Jackpot, a contest in which the station announces the amount of money in a progressive jackpot over the course of the day cold-calls random people in the listening area to test if they listen to the station; a person who either knows the answer (or, by chance, guesses correctly) wins the jackpot.
The station tweaked its image in 2013 with its sale to Community Broadcasters, adding 30-minute blocks of "continuous country," dropping national news and its Saturday night classic country block, and changing its voiceover announcer for the first time since adopting the country format.
Programming
Two programs have been on WPIG ever since its launch: the Morning Pigpen, the station's morning show, and the Country Call-in Café, an all-request lunch hour (although both have changed hosts since their inception). WPIG relies heavily upon local content.
Weekday schedule
The Morning Pigpen
The Morning Pigpen is one of WPIG's oldest programs and currently features Mark Thompson, weather with Wayne Mahar and newsman Gary Nease. It airs weekdays from 6–9 a.m.
Katie McLean
Katie McLean is the newest member of the WPIG family! She is the new host of the Mid-days show which airs weekdays from 9am-noon.
Country Call-in Café
This all-request lunch hour airs from noon to 1 p.m. and generally features at least some music not normally aired in the station's regular playlist. Brad Majors is the host. Close's Lumber is the current presenting sponsor of the request hour.
Brad Majors
In addition to hosting the Close's Lumber Country Call In Cafe, Brad is also the host of afternoons from 1–5 p.m. and the "Ride at Five," a drive time block in the 5:00 hour that is sponsored by Gowanda Harley-Davidson.
Michael Hamm
Michael Hamm is the host of "Sizzlin' Country Nights" from 6 pm−12 mid on the Big Pig! He is a former afternoon drive host on the Big Pig and also previously worked at WMXO as Program Director and morning show host as well as spending time with Q Rock in Salamanca and 96 KIX in Dunkirk. Hamm's show features a "Top 8 at 8" countdown which tabulates the eight most requested songs of the day.
News and weather
Weather operations for WPIG are handled by their chief meteorologist Wayne Mahar, who is also the chief meteorologist for WSTM-TV in Syracuse. He is heard daily for the "Pig Porkcast" weekdays during the Morning Pigpen.
WPIG operates a local news bureau headed by news director Gary Nease and reporter Nick Purcio. The station no longer offers national newscasts.
Weekend programs
- Saturdays, 8−10 am: Z-Max Racing Country from the Performance Racing Network
- Saturdays, 10 am −7 pm: The weekday disc jockeys rotate in these time slots, either live (often as a remote) or voice-tracked.
- Saturdays, 7 pm − Midnight: The Big Time with Whitney Allen
- Sundays, 6:45 am Twin Tiers in Focus
- Sundays, 7−10 am: The Country Oldies Show
- Sundays, 10 am −12 noon: NASCAR USA from the Motor Racing Network
Saturday and Sunday evenings are, As of 2013, jockless.
Sports programming
- WPIG is the flagship station of the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team.
- Buffalo Bills of the NFL
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Special programming
- WPIG airs A WPIG Country Christmas, an automated selection of country-themed Christmas music, throughout Christmas Eve through Christmas Day. Between the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, the station generally plays one Christmas song each hour. (Beginning in 2013, the Christmas selections were broadened to include more traditional Christmas songs from the adult standards format in addition to country Christmas covers.)
Discontinued programming and hosts
Syndicated
- WPIG has no nationally syndicated weekend countdown show. Their last countdown show, The Foxworthy Countdown, was dropped by the station on June 30, 2004.
- WPIG carried Westwood One's Country Gold Saturday Night live classic country request show from 1992 to 2013.
- Earl Pitts Uhmerikun was dropped by WPIG in 1999.
- ABC FM News aired on the station at the top of each hour until 2013.
First generation
- Southern Fried Friday, a local program dedicated to Southern rock, was discontinued sometime after 2000 and replaced by the Foxworthy Countdown.
- "Smokin' Joe Bacon" - Mornings, left ca. 1998
- "Peggy Banks" - Middays, including "Classic Country Café," left ca. 1998
Second generation
- Kerry Monroe - fill-in and weekend host.
- Casey Hill, sporadic co-host of the Morning Pigpen (?-2006, 2008–2009). Currently at another station.
- Mindy Cunningham, former co-host of the Morning Pigpen and later host of Midday Mayhem show (2006–2008). Currently broadcasting under another name.
- Mike "Smitty" Smith, midday and afternoon drive host (ca. 2000–2009). Currently at another station.
- Jesse Garon, evening radio personality (1998–2010). Currently out of the radio industry.
Third generation
- Tim McKeever, afternoon drive host. Currently a salesman for Gowanda Harley-Davidson.
- Marian Carter, fill-in and weekend host. Now doing weekends at WGNA-FM in Albany.
- Bethany, co-host of the Morning Pigpen and mid-day host. Currently the morning show co-host at WGNA-FM in Albany
- Jasmine Clark, host of the mid-day show. Currently out of the radio industry
Audience
WPIG's 43,000 watts of power allows the station to boom its signal through Erie, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, and Wyoming Counties in New York, as well as McKean and Potter Counties in Pennsylvania.
The station regularly registers by far the top Arbitron ratings in the Olean market.
Other uses
- An entirely fictional "WPIG" radio station made several appearances on the CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, where it was the hated cross-town rival of the eponymous station. The punchline was that the air staff at WPIG Cincinnati was "a bunch of swine." This usage predates the current WPIG's usage of the call sign.
- A different fictional "WPIG" − WPIG Aurora − appeared in the 1993 motion picture Wayne's World 2. The station featured two memorable characters in the form of "Handsome Dan" and "Mr. Scream," portrayed by Harry Shearer and Ted McGinley respectively. (Incidentally, the real WPIG, which had begun broadcasting its current format by this time, and the fictional WPIG Aurora both broadcast on 95.7 MHz, a departure from the usual practice of using nonstandard frequencies for fiction.)
- Sister station WPGI (100.9) in Elmira is modeled after WPIG.
- See also KPIG.
External links
- WPIG Official Web site
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WPIG
- Radio-Locator information on WPIG
- Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WPIG
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Coordinates: 42°02′10″N 78°26′46″W / 42.036°N 78.446°W