The Power Pig

[soundblast]

am not sure but in the early 90's or sometime in the rest of the 90's I hear an aircheck of a station in Florida called the power pig There was a great promo were the General Manager of the power pig was talking like he was addressing the management of Q 105 I think . I would love go get that aircheck as well as any others of that station. In case now one can help then please give me the call letters and market the station was in. Is this station still on, If not what happened to it? I think the station was in Tampa. But I am not sure

 

[RADIO geek squad]

am not sure but in the early 90's or sometime in the rest of the 90's I hear an aircheck of a station in Florida called the power pig There was a great promo were the General Manager of the power pig was talking like he was addressing the management of Q 105 I think . I would love go get that aircheck as well as any others of that station. In case now one can help then please give me the call letters and market the station was in. Is this station still on, If not what happened to it? I think the station was in Tampa. But I am not sure

The Power Pig is now 933FLZ. Q105 is now owned by CBS Radio. Call 813-839-9393 and ask for Program Manager at FLZ and he might be able to help you. MJ Kelly was at that time the morning show host at the Power Pig and still is the morning show host now at 933FLZ. Most likely the promo you are referring to aired during the morning show.

 

[smedge2006]

FYI WFLZ has now passed the old Q for the record of longest-lasting FM CHR.

WRBQ 19 years, 4 months (December 1973 - April 1993)

WFLZ 19 years, 5 months (September 1989 - February 2009)

WLCY's all time record of 21 years or so in the format is still in the distance.

 

[exboardop]

MJ Kelly was at that time the morning show host at the Power Pig and still is the morning show host now at 933FLZ. Most likely the promo you are referring to aired during the morning show.

Not hardly. By the time MJ came in, I dont think the station was even called the power pig or Power 93, I think it was 933FLZ by then. In fact MJ was a hanger-on by this time, the Q was country and Ron and Ron were gone. There were a few morning hosts that were better (IMHO) than MJ like Tim and Tom, who started doing mornings around the time that Bubba started at the pig. When MJ came in, it was a pretty mediocre time for morning radio in Tampa. Its really the only reason he ended up with any sort of following at all. At any rate, the morning host at the timeframe you are referring to was Jack Harris and "the 3 little pigs". I cant remember who was with Jack in the mornings when they flipped

 

[soundblast]

Thanks for th iinfo. Can anyone tell me why WFLZ stoped being the power pig

 

[[email protected]]

Soundblast-

Don't believe everything you read here. Some real winners (jacka**es) post here. I have been a lurker for a while and a radio fan who's out of the biz for a while. I go way back, Don Richards hired me as a part timer at 'PLP!! I was doing some part time work at WFLA when MJ joined BJ in late 93 or early 94 and it was still the Power Pig. It went FLZ a little over a year after MJ Kelly arrived.

For some idiot to call MJ a "hanger on" is laughable. He has consistently put the highest ratings on the page that WFLZ has ever seen in morning drive, even 15 years later. He's certainly one of the most successful morning shows the Tampa market has ever seen. The PIG never had ratings as high as MJ and BJ or just MJ Kelly alone. And Tim and Tom? They never did mornings on the Pig.

Another poster in a different thread said MJ's Schnitt Show was #1 25-54 in the Fall Arbitron and MJ beat Bubba 18-34 and 25-54 for December.

All the best,

[email protected]

 

[billalm]

The original morning show on The Power Pig was Jack Harris and Don Carpenter and later added Mark Chase (3 Little Pigs). Dave Mann was late mornings, BJ was somewhere on there, and Tim and Tom at night. Eventually other long term notable personalities were Jennifer Jordan middays, Jeff Thomas afternoons, and Spyder Harrison too. I also remember Hawk and Marty at some point as well. Love or hate MJ, he has to be respected for the long and consistently high rated run he's had in mornings. Very rare in the business anymore.

 

[scrubnurse]

Good posts from the two Bill's above. I have come to Mj's defense from a few jealous snots on this board before. He is a talented quality broadcaster who deserves a lot of credit for bringing two shows to the top of the pile.

sn

 

[David Sharp]

Didn't "Tim and Tom" do afternoon drive? I want to think it was pretty cutting edge at the time, because I believe all the other FMs had solo shifts in competition. Enjoyed listening to them.

I also remember there was a fair bit of controversy because the Power Pig told listeners to "Flip someone the pig" and let them know "you listen to the station." You can imagine what "flipping the pig" really was and since all the kids listened, school and community leaders complained. You couldn't buy that sort of publicity but it MAY have been one reason why The Power Pig toned itself down over time...after all...it's all about advertisers and making a buck.

There was another gimmick they had, which was pretty cool, and that was the "We have no money" angle. They bought some old panel vans, bashed them up, spray painted them pink and black and drove them everywhere. It was some time later before they got the hot pink (professionally painted) remote vans.