My Name Is Not Merv Griffin

...With all due respect to Gary Muller, and the late great Dr. Demento. 

For the record, Merv is no stage name. He was born Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr., so that much is wholly true.  After founding Merv Griffin Enterprises in 1964 he began buying up small and medium market radio stations. At different times the total list included WPOP-AM Hartford, CT and WIOF-FM in Waterbury, CT; WMID-AM in Atlantic City and WGRF-FM in Pleasantville, NJ and in upstate New York WENE-AM and WMRV-FM in Endicott and WBAX-FM in Wilkes Barre. They also had WARD-AM in Pittston and two in Rhode Island WHJJ and WHJY. I count ten stations there but in their own accounting the Merv Griffin Radio Group  "bought, managed and sold 17 radio stations."  I'm still trying to find the balance of 7. 

Only one of those stations bore his name: WMRV-FM.  Originally on 105.5 as WENE-FM the station was a simulcast of WENE-AM. The call signs and programming changed in 1971 with the change in ownership. In march of 2013 it became WBNW under the ownership of Clear Channel. It remains a top 40 station even today.

Just two years after he picked up WBAX in 1971 Griffin and his wife, Julann, divorced just two years later in 1973. She retained ownership of many of the stations as part of the settlement.  There were negotations but in the end Julann got 4 of his then seven stations.  In 1986, following his retirement, Griffin sold his production company, Merv Griffin Enterprises, to Columbia Pictures for $250 million.  Merv Griffin then founded Griffin Group in the months following that sale. The WMRV calls now reside on 93.9 in Danville, NY on a stick that was formerly WDNY and WACZ.

The Greaseman Returns!

The Greaseman has had many opportunities to celebrate his return. This because he's been fired a ot. I cant' state catagorically that he's moved more than any other Morning Show Host in history... let's just say he gets points for persistence. As a self-described "god-fearing, truck-driving redneck" it kind of fits in.

The Graseman first met strong resistance to his fictional persona at WRC-AM 980. Actually Doug Tracht was asked by management in 1974 to drop the cahracter or leave. He left. It was not his first departure, no, it was already his fifth. He'd already been through WICB, WTKO-AM, WENE-AM, and WAXC-AM.

The Greaseman found a new life bitching about the plow drivers at WPOP in Hartford Connecticut. Things went pretty well, running smoothly for over a year. Then WPOP went all news and The Greaseman was back in the box. Two months later he was back at the mic this time in Jacksonville, FL on WAPE. He might have stayed there but the opportunity to fill the "Howard Stern void" in Washington D.C. DC 101 had been #1 in the ratings with Stern until his 1982 firing. The Greaseman could not resist the challenge. And he succeeded. WWDC stayed #1. He didnt' stay #1 forever, but he stayed popular enough to manage a mock presidential run in 1984 against Regan. (wene image from binghamton radio.com)
http://scaptura.com/radio/index.html His stay lasted a decade and then he felt the need to spread his reach further. The Greaseman wanted more. In 1993 he left DC/101 to launch a syndicated radio show with the Infinity Broadcasting Corporation. Actually that kind of pissed off Stern especially after the WWDC thing. teh show tanked. It died in Atlanta, Los Angeles and then New York. Infinity tried to push it in smaller markets but the writing was on the wall. Syndication was not working for the lovable greaseball. And he didn't undertand why! Why dont the same sexist jokes and politically incorrect schtick work in syndication? Nobody knows greasman. Nobody knows.

He was rescued from obscurity by a very wise WARW who knew that the Greasemans mojo works in dirty DC. Who gives a damn if they dont get it in Atlanta, they dont need it to. In 2001 after a little time off he decided to make a more ginger attempt at syndication. This time it took. He's now on air at WARW, WGOP-AM, and WMET-AM. .. all D.C. stations I might add.
http://www.dwponline.com/grease/