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A Pig's Life New owners pledge to keep beloved station free to wallow in beloved ways By Sarah Phelan NEWS THAT popular terrestrial and Internet radio station KPIG had been sold to a Los Angeles corporation in a multistation deal found Metro Santa Cruz calling KPIG DJ "Wild Bill" Goldsmith for some juicy quotes. "I don't know how juicy they'll be this time," warned Goldsmith. "The people who bought the station seem very smart, intelligent people. It's extremely unlikely they are gonna make any program changes." Mapleton Communications, which was formed in May and has since bought stations in Merced, Calif., and Merced, Ore., has agreed to buy KPIG as well as four other New Wave Broadcasting-owned FM stations--KBTU, KCDU, KMBY and KHIP. These five new Monterey Bay area stations account for 15 percent of the area's $18 million radio advertising market. "Out of these five, KPIG is the most successsful, bringing in over a million dollars alone, which gives us a lot of security," says Goldsmith. Though he hasn't actually met any of the new owners. word on the KPIG vine is that the new vice president is a "Texan good ole boy, very smart, very supportive--and completely on our side." With Federal Communications Commision approval expected to take at least two months, Mapleton is leasing the stations, starting Oct. 1. But Goldsmith is chill with the swift takeover. "There's no need to rouse any rabble," he told us, "but if there is, we'll be sure to call you first." [ Santa Cruz Week | Metroactive Central | Archives ]