WPIG

WPIG

City of license	Olean
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	1947 (current format began in 1989)
Format	Country music
Power	93,000 Watts
Callsign meaning	W PIG
Owner	Backyard Broadcasting
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 broad-based country music format. It is owned by Backyard Broadcasting.

History

The station originally signed on as WHDL-FM in 1947 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. 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. On November 6, 1989, the station switched formats to the rapidly burgeoning country music format and became "WPIG-- The Big Pig 95.7, Today's Sizzlin' Country," which remains the station's motto. WPIG added the slogan "Today's Fun Country" in 2009, which rotates with the "Sizzlin' 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.

WPIG's program director is Mark Thompson.

Weekday Schedule

The Morning Pigpen

The Morning Pigpen is one of WPIG's oldest programs and currently features Mark Thompson and Bethany, weather with Wayne Mahar and newsman Gary Nease. It airs weekdays from 6-9 a.m.

Bethany

Bethany, in addition to co-hosting the Morning Pigpen, is also the host of the Midday show. She also serves as the production director for 95.7 WPIG and its sister station 1450 WHDL.

Potter County Outfitters 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

Brad Majors==

Brad is the newest addition to the WPIG family! In addition to hosting the Potter County Outfitters Country Call In Cafe, Brad is also the host of afternoons from 1p-6p.

Michael Hamm

Michael Hamm is the new host of "Sizzlin' Country Nights" from 6p-12m 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 to the station itself (as such, classic country songs make frequent appearances on the countdown).

Miscellaneous

• 12 M-6 AM After Midnite with Blair Garner
• National news is provided by ABC News Radio, with updates heard at the top of each hour (except for during syndicated programs).
• Weather: Weather operations for WPIG are handled by their chief meterologist 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.

Weekend Programs

• Saturdays, 8-10 AM: Z-Max Racing Country from the Performance Racing Network
• Saturdays, 10 AM-3 PM: A live remote from one of the weekday hosts, with Brad Majors in studio
• Saturdays, 3-7 PM: Michael Hamm
• Saturdays, 7 PM-12 M: Country Gold Saturday Night from Westwood One
• Sundays, 6:45 AM Public affairs
• Sundays, 8-10 AM: The Country Oldies Show with Steve Warren
• Sundays, 10 AM-12 N: NASCAR USA from the Motor Racing Network
• Sundays, 12 N-7 PM: Live sporting events, interns, or Nick Pircio
• Sundays, 7 PM-12 M: Automation

Sports programming

• WPIG is the flagship station of the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team.
• Buffalo Bills of the NFL
• NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Music

WPIG uses the current popular country music charts for their base playlist, with a slightly greater emphasis on male artists than female ones. In addition to modern country music, classic country makes up a noticeable portion of the station's playlist, with a greater emphasis on classic country during evenings and weekends.

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.

Discontinued programming and hosts

• WPIG has no nationally syndicated weekend countdown show. Their last countdown show, The Foxworthy Countdown, was dropped by the station on June 30, 2004.
• Earl Pitts Uhmerikun was dropped by WPIG in 1999.
• Southern Fried Friday, a local program dedicated to Southern rock, was discontinued sometime after 2000 and replaced by the Foxworthy Countdown.
• The 80s at 8, a weekly hourlong feature (usually airing Thursday night) featuring all 80s country. Discontinued 2006.
• Smokin' Joe Bacon and Peggy Banks - former co-hosts of the Morning Pigpen. Banks also hosted the Classic Country Cafe (forerunner to the current Country Call-In Cafe). Both left circa 1998.
• Kerry Monroe - fill-in and weekend host.
• Mindy Cunningham, former co-host of the Morning Pigpen and later host of Midday Mayhem show. Left station in June 2008. Currently broadcasting under another name.
• Casey Hill, sporadic co-host of the Morning Pigpen. Currently at another station.
• Mike "Smitty" Smith, midday and afternoon drive host (ca. 2000-2009). Currently at another station.
• Jesse Garon, evening radio personality (1998–2010). Currently at another station.
• Tim McKeever, afternoon drive host. Currently out of the radio industry
• Marian Carter, fill-in and weekend host. Now doing weekends at WGNA-FM in Albany.

Audience

WPIG's 93,000 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.

References

External links

• WPIG Official Web site
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WPIG
• Radio-Locator information on WPIG