What?! Something Happend To Michael Jackson?!

The North Koreans could have set off a nuke this week that wiped out Hawaii, and we wouldn’t have heard about it for daaaaayyyys because of the tragic death of the King Of Pop!

I have to say that I was shocked to hear about the death of Michael Jackson. MSN is my homepage on my home computer, so when I opened my internet explorer on Thursday afternoon that was the first thing I saw. The big box at the top of the page was even bigger than usual, going across the top of the whole page…huge headline MICHAEL JACKSON DEAD AT AGE 50. It’s one of those things where you do a double-take and you wonder if you’re reading it right, so you stare at it for several seconds until you are sure you are reading it right.

Wow…didn’t see that one coming…

The media frenzy that has followed to the exclusion of all other news…that I did see coming!!

Especially when I scrolled down the page, and near the bottom of the page, where I almost missed it, was a little tiny picture of Farrah Fawcett and one line next to it “Remembering Farrah Fawcett”….What? Farrah died too? Another double-take….and my first thought was “shouldn’t this story be at least as prominent as the Jackson story?” Sure she was older (not by much though) and we knew she had cancer and would not be with us much longer, so it wasn’t as big a shock as Jackson’s passing…but still…Farrah has become some strange footnote to the Michael Jackson story…

“Michael Jackson died tragically today…oh yeah, Farrah Fawcett died too…now back to the tragic death Michael Jackson story! We’ll talk to anyone who has ever heard of Michael Jackson…we’ll talk to the doctors, the crowd in the street, every A-B-C and D-List actor, actress and musician that ever stepped in front of a camera…we’ll read their Twitters and Blogs and…gosh, too bad Farrah Fawcett isn’t still with us so we could ask her how the tragic death of Michael Jackson has affected her…I wonder what Ed McMahon would have to say about the tragic death of the tragically tragic Michael Jackson and his tragic life of tragedy!”

I was just happy that Ed McMahon had passed away earlier in the week, or we might never have heard about that!!!

I do feel that Michael Jackson’s passing is sad…sad mostly because he was so young. I’m 52, so anyone younger than me is too young to die…heck, anyone under 80 is too young. It bothers me because Michael had what many people would consider “everything”, yet I don’t think he ever got to enjoy it even for a minute….and believe me, that’s the saddest part of all.

I do feel a strange and selfish sadness at Michael’s passing…I feel sad about Farrah and Ed too…all for the same reason, and that is because they were all very talented, and they were all such icons, and they were all a huge piece of my life and my consciousness and now they are gone….and that closes the door on another little section of my life….

I know it's not about me, and I shouldn't make it about me, but damnit, this is the kind of thing that makes me feel old!!!

(heavy sigh)

Ralphie

Now That I Have Your Attention

Time to ramp it up Piggies!

Uncle Sherman keeps leaving the message on the KPIG Pig Squeals that says keep those cards and letters comin’ in!

I agree…don’t let up…if you are dissatisfied with the programming decisions of the management of KPIG, especially the cutting back of live DJs in favor of automation, let them know.

I’m not sure Mike Anthony, VP of Programming for the Monterey Bay is reading or caring much about your emails. But don’t stop writing manthony@radiomontereybay.com

Adam Nathanson, the owner of Mapleton Communications is really the one who’s eye and ear you want to catch. hr@mapletoncommunications.com

I believe Adam sees these emails…the more long winded ones he may just glance over, but he sees them. So try to keep it short and to the point…keep it honest and cordial, and, here’s the important part… do it everyday! Send an email when you get up and before you go to bed…send one at lunch and dinner and anytime you find yourself at your computer. Put something like “Dissatisfied KPIG Listener” in the subject line so he’ll know without fail what this email is about, and when he comes in to work in the morning, he will have no doubt that people are not happy…he may not even have to read further than the subject line!

He also my not care, but email daily, email hourly, email often!

And maybe you could send emails to the websites of your favorite KPIG Artists and KPIG Sponsors (if you haven’t already) and let them know what’s happening (if they don’t already know) and tell them how you feel and urge them to write (if they haven’t already). Hey, they have a stake in this too!

And don’t forget the faxes and phones and good old fashioned snail mail as lines of communication!!!

Get yourself a roll of stamps and a box of envelopes or some nice postcards and have at it!!

Here’s the info straight from the Mapleton website http://www.mapletoncomm.com/

Adam Nathanson
10900 Wilshire Blvd., #1500
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Ph. (310) 209-7221

Fax (310) 209-7239

And for Radio Monterey Bay:

Mike Anthony, Sr. VP Programming
60 Garden Ct., Suite 300
Monterey, CA 93940

Ph. (831) 658-5200

Fax (831) 658-5299

Will it do any good? Maybe not…they’re the owners and they’ll do what ever they please…even if it only pleases them.

But, we’ll all be able to say that we cared and we tried!

So let’s ramp it up and be heard!

Keep those cards and letters, faxes, emails and phone calls coming in!!

Love you Pigs,

Ralphie

Gotta Have It!

GOTTA HAVE MY BLOG PAGE!!!

How else can I keep you informed on what’s really important…what you really need to know….the only thing that really matters…the one thing I know you’re all really concerned about…MY DIET!!

I’m still losing weight through the healthy way diet plan, so even if KPIG isn’t around much longer, I plan to be!

http://www.thehealthyway.us/

I have been on a plateau after losing 70 pounds, but I’m still losing inches and building muscle and feeling great, and boy do I look maahhhvelous!!

Onward and Downward!

Ralphie

Real People Real Music Real Radio

Greetings and Salutations!

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Ralph Anybody, morning DJ at KPIG radio, broadcasting out of Freedom California at 107oink5 FM, and on-line at http://www.kpig.com/ we also simulcast The Pig in San Luis Obispo, San Francisco and Chico, California.

Those of you who do know me…I mean really know me, know my real name, and those of you who don’t know me only need to know me as Ralphie…besides, if you know Ralphie, than you know me, and that’s all you need to know, because we are the same person….confusing enough for you?….I’m confused and I wrote it!

You can Google KPIG, or, better yet, it’s founder Laura Ellen Hopper and find out more about the greatest radio station on the face of the earth…sadly, most of the hits for Laura Ellen are from the many obituaries published after her untimely death back in 2007...we miss you Laura. Laura was the Pit Bull that kept our Corporate Masters (Mapleton Communications) from coming in our yard and stomping (crapping) all over our beautiful format!!

I feel that Mapleton, through some bad business decisions and an uncertain economy, is slowly and painfully killing The Pig. They never understood what a gem of a radio station they owned, and instead of polishing this gem and taking good care of it and putting it in a glass case, they shoved it in a drawer with all the other faux gems and fools gold they own, never realizing it’s worth.

Don't get me wrong, there is still no radio station like it with it’s eclectic mix of music and comedy, but I fear it will soon be gone and then there really will be no station like it…anywhere…at all…ever again!

Some of our incredibly loyal and longtime listeners have started a grass-roots campaign to help save the pig, and a website where you can post your comments, which will be sent to our Corporate Masters, at http://www.savethepig.us/


So thank you for your support!

I guess that’s all for now!

Ralphie