Tiny Pingree Grove looms large in radio contest

Call it the suburban version of Lilliput besting Gulliver.

The village of Pingree Grove — population 4,500 or so — competed against towns up to 30 times its size to win a radio contest based on the number of votes sent via Internet and cellphone.

The prize? A moment of glory on Wednesday morning when a trophy is presented to village officials at a live radio broadcast during “The Eric & Kathy Morning Show” on 101.9 FM The Mix.

“Suburban Madness ... Battle of the Burbs 2012” featured 16 communities picked based on the first 16 callers who enter their town into the game, said Chris Petlak, social media manager for 101.9 FM The Mix and “The Eric & Kathy Morning Show.”

Towns were matched up in the order they were entered, not by size or other criteria, he said.

“Pingree Grove got more text messages than any other town. It was unbelievable, their matchups were some of the biggest that we’ve ever seen. It’s amazing since it’s such a small town; we were really blown away.”

Pingree Grove beat Joliet, population 147,000, in the first round. In the second and third rounds, it knocked out Berwyn and Tinley Park, both towns with about 56,000 residents. In the championship, the tiny Kane County village smoked fellow finalist Des Plaines and its more than 58,000 residents to claim the final prize.

“There were 101,293 votes total (in the championship round) and Pingree Grove had 86 percent of those votes. It was insane,” Petlak said.

Those who made it happen were people like Pingree Grove resident Gary Meyer, who estimated he spent about five hours last weekend sending votes via the Internet. His wife and daughter also took part in the effort, just like all their friends and neighbors, he said.

“It was a lot of continuous voting. A lot of people had their kids do it, too,” Meyer said.

Village President Greg Marston said village residents mobilized through social media and Facebook. “Given that a majority of people here grew up in the suburbs, we have a vast network of people. As the competition went on, there were a lot of people from surrounding communities voting for us.”

Marton said he expects a large crowd Wednesday morning, when a fire truck will greet a team from the station including Dave “The Big Karwowski” and traffic reporter Melissa McGurren. The team will call “The Eric & Kathy Morning Show” live at 7:40 a.m. and the trophy will be presented at about 8:05 a.m.