KPIG | FM radio station | Santa Cruz | California

A Golden Oldie

by Chris Warren

One forward-looking radio company is a throwback to the good old days when "keep it local" was a mantra for success.

IF YOU HAPPEN to tune in to KPIG, an FM radio station based just outside of Santa Cruz, California, you might be surprised by what you hear - or, perhaps more accurately, by what you don't hear.

Don't expect to get a steady, endlessly repeating loop of songs by Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and the other select few much-hyped pop singers so many stations rely upon. Instead, you'll find that KPIG cranks out a steady stream of, well, surprises. During one stretch, you might hear songs from Wilco, Little Feat, and Johnny Cash. In fact, KPIG has a playlist that spans decades and genres: It includes everything from classic rock and bluegrass to Hawaiian tunes and New Orleans funk.

KPIG proudly calls itself an anachronism; it's the kind of radio station that was more common in the 1950s and '60s, when DJs had considerable latitude in handpicking the kind of music they thought their listeners wanted to hear. But KPIG isn't an anomaly. It's one of 34 stations owned by Los Angeles-based Mapleton Communications, a company that has aggressively pursued what it sees as an unmet demand for radio programming tailored to the tastes of small and midsize markets across the western United States.

"We are thinking local and acting local. You want to be locally relevant, so the brands and all the stations that we are operating focus and cater to the local community and audience interest so that we can super-serve the communities," says Adam Nathanson, Mapleton's founder and president.