The Power Pig dot com's 15th Anniversary Tribute to those who started it all !

Of course Dr. Don & Jack are the ones who got to flip that switch to top 40 on day one.
This is another recording of the switch, this one has the entire call with Gary Edens,
the switch get's flipped, then you'll hear the first couple of breaks with listeners reactions. (3:29)

- from Dr. Don Carpenter -
         Since the morning of the switch you have the audio of (and probably a lot of stories about) I'll give you the memories that have stuck with me. I do remember how dead serious Randy Michaels was with his offer to Edens. Give us a million dollars and we won't change formats. Had he gotten the check, Z-93 would have remained oldies.
          What I remember the most was how we tore up the old studios. I guess the idea was to get us living with the image of a hardscrabble "pirate" radio station. We spray-painted "Power Pig" all over the walls of the studio and down the hall (to the annoyance, it seems, of the WFLA crew..). And spent one evening "repainting" the Z-93 vans with cheap pink spray paint. The idea was to get attention, and those trucks certainly got attention. But the funniest stunt was painting Gabe Hobbs company car. He really was not amused when he returned from vacation to find his Nissan ..pink. Cost him a fortune to get all of that cheap spray paint off, too.
          Another thing that sticks out in my mind was the reaction over at Q. When faced with the most competition that station had ever experienced, they chose to let their morning guy ..go to Costa Rica for 3 months. Time after time, we were in utter amazement at how easy they were to "play." Every thing we did got exactly the reaction from Q we wanted. Even the stuff we figured WOULDN'T work ...worked. There are still some things we did at the Pig I never hear talked about. I'd disclose them, but I still USE them and they never fail. Nothing illegal, mind you. Just amazingly effective.
         Funny Jack (Harris) story.. every year for Christmas, Jack got a case of beer from AB for every year he'd been on the air. BUT.. Jack only drinks Miller Lite in bottles. So, I ended up with something like 5 cases of Michelob, Chase and BJ split 20 cases of Bud and Bud Light.

WAKIN YOU UP WITH THE 3 LITTLE PIGS JINGLE

- from Jack Harris -
        After 15 and a half years on 970WFLA, I was fired, and ended up on the Q-Zoo for two years... After four attempts to hire me back by other owners, Randy Michaels came up with the proverbial offer I couldn't refuse, so I returned to the FM side to a morning show that was to compete with the Zoo. Unfortunately, because of a Byzantine business arrangement between Jacor and Edens, we were forbidden from competing for a year and a half. But then the opportunity arose, and the legendary Marc Chase was brought in.
       The first thing we did was call Mike Osterhoudt of Q-105 and tell him for a million bucks, we wouldn't change our format, which of course he took in the jocular nature it was intended and refused. On the Sunday night before the Monday debut (as I recall), Marc brought us all together to decide on a name. Entries like "The Gator" and others were rejected, and Power Pig was agreed upon, after which we went out and sprayed the truck with graffiti, and trashed the radio station on Jackson Street.
       The crudeness and ruthlessness with which the radio station operated was tough on me, a guy who had been respected in the market and known to be fairly conservative in values. And at the same time, I lost my TV gig on Channel 13 and my endorsement on TV for Kash and Karry, and I frankly thought my career was going down the tube.        There were about eight occasions on which there were letters to the editor in the local paper in which people expressed their disgust with our crude and libidinous format, and they generally avowed that I was on my way straight to hell.
    That's not a pleasant thing to read about oneself in the newspaper.
       I must admit, it was fun... the week in which we could wear only our skivvies and no pants, which happened to be the week I was doing a telethon for Easter Seals, and showed up in boxers and a tux top... needless to say, they deferred and told me to come back next year.   I'll never forget riding in the Pig van in the Martin Luther King parade in St Petersburg during the "Flash us the Pig Sign" period, which was a middle finger. It was surreal to look out into a crowd of tens of thousands of people, all shooting us the bird.
       There are lots of other terrific stories, but the greatest gratification came when we creamed the Zoo in only one book... Quite a feat and quite a feeling.        I contributed very little to the morning show except my presence and an occasional comment. And I was the designated breakfast guy, going out every morning at about 7:50 for chow. I was probably the highest paid delivery boy in radio.        I resumed my TV career on Channel 8 at one point, and during that time, had my period of highest recognition... the old folks knew me from Pulse Plus on Channel 13, or from Harris and Company on Channel 8 and Busch Gardens, and the young folks all knew me from the Power Pig. Riding in parades was a heady experience.
       Overall, it was a very positive time in my life, and I picked up a wealth of savvy from working with Michaels and Chase. It was kind of like my tour of duty in Viet Nam... I wouldn't trade the experience for the world, but I'm mighty happy that I don't have to do it again.
       Jocularly, Jack Harris (Of the Original Three Little Pigs)