Class KPIG-FM: A
KPYG: B1 City of license Freedom Owner Mapleton Communications Sister stations KYNS, KWWV, KXTZ, KXDZ | Frequency 107.5 MHz Format Freeform Branding K-PIG | |
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Broadcast area KPIG-FM: Freedom/Santa Cruz/Monterey/Salinas, California
KPYG: San Luis Obispo, California Slogan Live Free-range DJs 24/7 First air date KPIG-FM: 1987
KPYG: 1984 ERP KPIG-FM: 5,400 watts
KPYG: 25,000 watts HAAT KPIG-FM: 103 meters
KPYG: 100 meters Area Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Freedom, Salinas | ||
KPIG-FM (107.5 FM, "K-PIG") is a radio station located near the city of Santa Cruz, California, United States. Founded in 1988, the studio is based in Watsonville, California, and broadcasts to the counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey. It also has a radio repeater on 94.9 MHz FM in San Luis Obispo County as KPYG (since 2004). The station's logo features a sunglasses-wearing pig in farmer's clothing and a cowboy hat. Its format tends to be Rock, Blues, Folk, Folk/Country and is largely self-determined. In 2001 the station was bought by Mapleton Communications.
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KPIG has strong community ties featuring local disc jockeys, local sponsors, local news and commentary, and the Hog Call line, a free community call-in line for leaving recorded announcements that will be played on the air. Much like newspaper classifieds, common "Hog Calls" are regarding items for sale or upcoming community events.
Among its most well known programs are "Cousin Al's Bluegrass Show" on Sunday nights, "Uncle Sherman's Dirty Boogie" on Saturday nights, "Please Stand By" the in-studio live music show, on Sunday mornings. "Please Stand By", hosted by Sleepy John Sandidge, features local and world famous Country, Folk, and Blues acts. The station also hosts several popular music festivals each year including the Humbug Hoedown in December, and is the radio volunteer for the free music festival each October in Golden Gate Park called Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.
KPIG is well known worldwide as well. It was one of the first radio stations in the world to webcast their program, going online on August 2, 1995 during Cousin Al's show. Frequently song requests are submitted via e-mail from listeners around the globe. Indirect references to KPIG appear in the songs "I'm Coming Home" by Robert Earl Keen and "Beer Run" (which references the Robert Keen song) by Todd Snider, both of whom are frequently featured on the air and perform at KPIG's events.
In March 2010, KPIG placed its audio stream behind a paywall. On October 1, 2012, KPIG launched an ad-free "KPIG Online Radio" app in the Apple App Store. A monthly subscription purchased through the official website is required for streaming.
KFAT
KPIG's predecessor was KFAT, broadcasting out of Gilroy, California from 1976 to 1982. Much of KPIG's founding staff and current on-air personalities worked at KFAT. KFAT specialized in true Country and Folk as well as many off-beat oddities. Archived tapes of broadcasts are still streamed from the KFAT web site.
Related information
Program Director, Laura Ellen Hopper (April 29, 1950-May 28, 2007), had produced a side-project webcast, the Cowboy Cultural Society web site and stream that plays contemporary and classic Cowboy music.
Former morning disc jockey Dallas Dobro is also the regular mainstage Master of Ceremonies at the twice-annual Strawberry Music Festival in Camp Mather, Yosemite, California. Dobro left the station in 2006 and now resides and works in radio in Petaluma, California.
"Wild" Bill Goldsmith, KPIG's former webmaster, and the person who first put its program on the web, founded Radio Paradise, a webcast of "Eclectic Online Rock".
National syndication
Effective December 31, 2007, radio format syndication firm Dial Global offers KPIG's programming to other stations across the United States via satellite distribution. KPIG's programming is offered to stations as either a primary format, or via a station's HD Radio subchannel. The format makes KPIG one of only three terrestrial based radio superstations in the United States (WBBR, a business-talk radio network and 660, The Fan, a Sports station, both in New York City, being the others).