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 Bumper Morgan - original station voiceover man |
- from Bumper Morgan -
**STORY** (from Aug 2003) "Hi Brian, Thanks for putting together a great "Pig Site." Love it. Let me gather my thoughts as they relate to The Power Pig, 93.3 WFLZ. Many of the vocals I cut were sent on reel-to-reel from my studio in Nashville to Tampa, to be produced in-house. Often counter to counter via the major airlines.
I produced the Pig's start-up package, with ton's of bumpers. That got the station rolling until Marc Chase (The Boss Hog) hired Brian James from B-94/Pittsburgh
(my former station in the early 80's) to become full-time creative services director. From then on they used Brian, Ernie Anderson and myself in rotation as the voices
as the station evolved. I believe I had the Power Pig as a client for 5 years. It was an awesome experience. Thanks so much !
"The Bump!" Bumper Morgan-Bumper Productions, Cape Cod, MA www.bumpermorgan.com
 This is just one example of how Bumper's attitude filled voice defined the Pig's personality.
There are many more you can hear using the PIG PEN's Virtual Cart Machines. Check it out!
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Brian James -
Creative Services Director /
Station Voiceover Man / weekend jock |
Brian was the voice of what HAD to be hundreds of Power Pig promos including this favorite from
the "Power Pig Hidden Microphone" collection. Hear the collection of Brian in the PIG PEN.
- from Brian James
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Brian, I just wanted to throw my two cents worth in and let you know that the site is wonderful and give you a little of "my side of the story". I was working at X-100 in San Francisco when I got a call from Power Pig PD Marc Chase.
I had just survived the great Earthquake of 1989 and wanted to get the hell out of town. The Pig had been on for a month at the point Marc hired me...So right away as I finished out my "notice" in San Fran, I started producing promos for Marc and the escaped convicts that ran Power 93. It was so strange because in San Francisco I was on a pretty tight leash...everything had to be approved by the MD and PD and sometimes the GM...but when my stint with the PIG started Marc just said..."don't lose the license"...that was the only rule....I had an absolute blast because I had total freedom. Marc said write and produce what you want...get inside their heads... If I thought about something...even something from the deep dark scary part of my brain...I could write it and produce it and throw it on the air. Even the infamous "FARM ANIMALS" promo for Lowrent....This was one I was actually nervous about but it did hit the air once without the last line being reversed.....After a couple of quick meetings we decided to reverse the last line and have a little mystery...(and save another lawsuit)...It spoiled me because no other radio experience could ever stack up.
Best time of my life working at the PIG...it was so much fun and so very twisted that I will only share stories over a cold one with NO recording devices around. I have pictures that could make me a wealthy man and that I can't legally share plus memories that most would have a hard time believing. Let me give you a few hints and you can come to your own conclusion...Bottle rockets fired at the Q, Balloons filled with ink and a Q billboard,
Mason's black book, Hijacking a Semi of Q Halloween candy and a half a million people flipping the PIG and a very upset Belinda Carlisle. A once in a lifetime experience. I miss it and would love to do it again although the FCC might have a problem with it.
I owe every bit of my career to the exposure the PIG gave me. So to all the little pigs.....THANKS and I miss you guys! Brian James - Evil OverLord of the Voice Universe - Action Figure Sold Separately |
 "Hollywood" Jeff Laurence - Creative Services/weekends |
- from Jeff Laurence -
**STORY 1** (Originally written Oct 2003) I did weekends on 93FM "Florida's Nicest Rock" (that ran for just a few months after Paradise) Mark Larsen hired me to be creative director for WFLA and WFLZ and I ended up doing middays for Z93..oldies. I also imaged Z93 for the rest of it's tenure. When Randy Michaels was walking the halls and there were rumblings of changing formats to Power 93..I would come in following Jack Harris & would invariably have some production to do...I would ask Jack to stay on a little after 10am..and he always said that he would stay and drive "The Pig"..We would joke that for a 100,000 watt station that was performing poorly it sure used up a lot of power..or in other words it was a "Power Pig" Randy heard that and liked it..shortly after that we were all called into a meeting with pizza downstairs of the Jackson Street building...we were all given a case of pink spray paint and were told to go out ant paint the Z93 "Super Trooper" and station van... pink...Shortly after that the station went out and bought a fleet of the TACKIEST early 70's cars..Big Fat Buicks and Cadillac's.. all painted pink..We were secretly told that if a car caught fire or otherwise broke down, to "pull the tag and leave it"..as a sort of a tacky billboard.. That station had one mantra.. "Take Q105 down at ALL costs".
It was quite a time. We would just drive over and sit in WRBQ's parking lot and it would rattle the hell out of them.. we'd just sit there. In a stroke of genius, Randy hired the WORST part timer he could find... this guy could barely talk... and used the air name of Jimmy Crawford (Mason's real name) ..another legendary move was the hiring of a very black sounding girl.. .and having her use the air name of one of RBQ's staffers mistresses. I produced the famous Mason Dixon Lie Detector promos...I have an aircheck of me on Z93 doing oldies, and one of me on Power 93 (hear them in the PIG PEN)..feeling very out of my element.. and very old... not knowing anything about that music, or being very hip..I was extremely uncomfortable, and ended up leaving to go to WYUU to do oldies with Scott Robbins. I'll send these to you via MP3.. See Ya Brian! -jl
Jeff Laurence
**STORY 2** (Re-printed from Radio-Info.com-June, 2004) Now then, I remember when Jeff Kapugi started at the "Power Pig" as Jeff Kaye... and another name that I will not reveal. I did middays when it was Z93 oldies, and was in the meeting when Randy Michaels called us all into the little "break room" on the first floor of the WFLA radio building on Jackson street...(dreamy harp music)
There we all were... we had heard rumbling about some kind of change for weeks .Randy (Michaels) had come to Tampa as he liked to do to visit a few gentlemen's clubs, and to tweak the processing and scare people...during the weeks preceding the switch. Randy combed the halls for suggestions. He was always asking for opinions, and inquiring about ideas etc...one morning I was getting ready to relieve Jack Harris, and Don Carpenter but had some quick production to do. Randy heard Jack say to me, "go ahead and do what you need to do Jeff, I'll keep this Power Pig on the air..." Randy chastised me mildly for even thinking about doing production before my shift, and then asked Jack what he meant by "Power Pig" He explained that we all knew the station was not doing overly well in the ratings, and something had to be done. WFLZ (Z93) was using a LOT of power, and not producing much revenue... it was... A PIG as radio execs used to call under performing, but expensive to run stations. Mark Larson was the PD of Z93, and a great guy, but even he knew that a change was in the offing. Gabe Hobbs was hush hush about it, and then the day came...we were joined in the break room by Gabe and Randy and a CASE of pink Krylon (tm) spray paint. We were told of the impending change in formats, and then ordered to go out into the parking area and deface the Z93 Isuzu Trooper and the Z93 remote van. "Paint 'em PINK boys...PINK...like a PIG! AHH HA HAH HAH HAH hah hah (fade, and back to dreamy harp music)
Apparently the Eastman deal with Q105 had gone very sour... at that point they were fair game... prior to that there were extortion-like calls made to the GM at WRBQ to come up with cash for us NOT to go against Q105...all of this was pre-determined... from what I know the Q105 logo became the property of Jacor along with the entire Q105 music library... It wasn't until Infinity entered into the deal to purchase WRBQ during the "big spin-off" that a "secret deal over cocktails" was made to release the logo... but Jacor retained the music and the rights to keep Q105 from ever becoming a CHR again FOREVER!!!!!!! NY'AH HAH HAH HAH ha hah ha! (clap clap clap) |
| MORE ORIGINAL PIGGERS COMING SOON !! CHECK BACK THROUGHOUT THE NEXT YEAR AS WE CELEBRATE THE PIG'S 15TH ANNIVERSARY !
If you were an 'original pigger' and you don't see yourself here,
please contact us at ThePowerPig@aol.com, including any jock that hit
the air,
any promotions people who hit the street and ok, even any sales staff members. We'd love to include anyone who was a part of The Pig's beginning days...
and you know everyone's got a story they wanna tell about it.
COMING SOON: The ACTUAL guy who came up with the
name "Power Pig", Mike Albl.
STORY WISH LIST: Randy Michaels, Marc Chase, BJ Harris, Courtney Campbell, Darcel Schouler,
Gabe Hobbs,
Martin Giles, Beaver Stevens, Hardin Long(Paul Turner).
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