Archive-name: alt.fan.greaseman FAQ URL: http://www.geocities.com/jrw78/grease/GreasemanFAQ.txt Posting-Frequency: every 30 days Last-modified: 03/22/2001 Version: 3.0 The Greaseman FAQ Originally created by J. Carlos Castro Updated and maintained by jasoN (jrw78@aol.com) with contributions from: Alan Peterson, Bob Bibbings, Robert Coats, Steve Olsen, Paul Richards, & Pat Merrill Q: Who is the Greaseman? A: The Greaseman is a radio personality. He is known for his bits and song parodies. He has his own vocabulary which he uses to avoid trouble with the FCC. Q: What is the Greaseman's real name? A: The Greaseman’s real name is Doug Tracht, but he prefers to keep his radio life and his personal life separate. He also goes by Jonny Bulky, Jonny Avacado, Jonny Doodads, The Doodad Daddy of the Airwaves, His Highness of Hobble, The Duke of Dangle, The Prince of Pfft, and his favorite, Bingo! Q: What stations carry the Greaseman? A: You can listen to the Greaseman in the DC area on 1390AM out of Arlington, Virginia from 6AM to 8AM, soon to be 6AM to 10AM. You can also tune in on the web by going to www.live365.com and doing a search for "greaseman" where you can hear him for the full four hours. Q: How can I get in touch with him? A: You can call him from 6AM to 10AM at 1-866-SCHWEET or you can send an email to greaseshow@aol.com Q: Where can i get news on The Greaseman? A: You can visit http://www.greaseman.org, which usually has the most current news available, and you can also subscribe to the Greaseman newsletter, which is emailed twice a month. You can subscribe by emailing jrw78@aol.com Q: What bits does the Greaseman do? A: There are alot of them! Here is my updated complete list. If you can add to this list, please let me know. Baby Talk - Grease talks with unborn babies. Back in Time With an Uzi - Grease uses the equipment in the radio studio to return to key moments in history with his uzi. Bet the Bombays - You get to ask Grease a joke...but if he knows it, he gets to take you brutally. Big Dick Brannigan - Grease tells about his past life as a private dick. Blasterpiece Theater - The classics told by Sylvester Stalone. Carlos the International Terrorist - Grease is always running into the famed and heavily armed terrorist, Carlos The Jackal. Clinton - A look at how life would be if Grease and Clint Eastwood got a knock on the head and decided to live alternate lifestyles. Cooking With Hydraulics - Cooking up a zesty porridge with the help of celebrity donors. Damien - Grease has occasion to run into the Dark Master while he is trying to perform his duties. Deliverance 101 - The same story, only with different twists. Emperor Tochasfacius - Grease has flashbacks to his past life as a ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Enlightening the Goyum - A quick lesson in Hebrew. Fudgeman - Fudgeman and his chicken assistant Throbin save the world from deviant behavior. Goodship Grease - Stories about how the Grease spends his leisure time in his boat. The Greaseman Quiz (formerly The Morning Quiz) - Try to win that suitcase full of diamonds! Hobble Do Ga Ga Handbook - Methods with which to cut a quick slice. Irving Greasemanowitz - Grease has flashbacks to his past life as the first Yiddish Lawman. Lawman - The Grease tells about the time when he’d strap on a gun and pin on a badge and become a Lawman. Massive Impossible - An elite team to help out people who are browncapping. Mayberry UFB - Andy and Barney as you’ve never seen them before. Medical Man - Stories about when Nino was the pompous Dr. Greasemanelli. My Daddy - Description of how Grease’s dad, Oscar Greasemaneli, gets into trouble. Ragnad - Stories about Grease's illegitimate space-child Ragnad. Sailboaters vs Powerboaters - How the two types of boaters do things differently. Six Minute Workout - A unique workout for men. South of the Border - Stories about how Grease spends time in Mexico. Sgt. Fury - The Grease relives his time back in Vietnam when the name on his uniform said "Greasemanelli," but everyone knew him as Sgt. Fury. Toe Monster - The dreaded Toe Monster Lives under Grease's bed, with the hopes of someday eating Grease’s toes. Ugly Women - Recounts of how Grease and his daddy picked up and enjoyed ingus with ugly women. West Virginia - Greaseman shows his respect for the people of West VA. Q: What is the "Bit without an End?" A: When Grease was working in Florida, he would be prevented from getting a good day's sleep after his morning gig by thoughtless model-airplane enthusiasts who would buzz their models outside his window. Grease came up with a revenge skit with a model plane of his own that would shoot the others out of the sky. The plane became possessed by Damien and started chasing after him. Grease then got too deep into this bit without a way out (and tried to incorporate this into the bit). After fumbling with the sound-effects, and trying a foray South of the Border, and then calling in Big-Dick Brannigan, he finally gave up groping for a punch line. Grease can usually be counted on to do some of the most impressive ad-libbing and improvisation on the radio today, but at that time his talents failed him. The bit originally aired in the Fall of 1982 from WWDC FM Washington, DC/101. It's considered a classic, and is on Vol. 1 of the "Best of Grease" tapes. Q: Are there any albums or compilations of Grease bits? A: Probably the first compilation the Grease put together was two record albums with material from his WAPE days. The first was "A Real Lawman" in 1978 and the second was "Live and Shrieking" in 1979. There was a 4-part "Best of Grease" compilation, available on cassettes. These became unavailable shortly before he left DC-101. They are now prized collectors items and can only be obtained from private owners. Part of Grease's popularity on a national basis before he went into syndication (and hence part of the motivation for this newsgroup) was the creation and exchange of bootleg tapes among an extended network of fans. Some of his best work has never been republished (although you can occasionally talk him into doing them again on his current show). He also came out with "Soapin Up With the Grease" in which he video taped his bathtime. "Soapin" also does have a couple of Greaseman bits in which you can see him acting out the story he is telling And most recently there was a 3 CD Greatest Hits Collection from his time at WARW. Q: Was The Greaseman really in the Village People? A: No, that’s just a bit. But in the bit, he claims to be the construction worker. Q: Did Grease ever serve in the military? A: Like John Wayne, Grease has a deep and abiding respect for everyone who serves in uniform, but has never served himself. During the Vietnam war, he was attending Ithaca College in New York, and his draft number never came up. Q: But Grease did serve as a policeman? A: Yes, he did. While working at his gig in Florida, he worked as a reserve police officer on the night shift Morning staffers would be jolted out of their bleary-eyed state by the sight of Grease doing his show in full uniform with a 44 Magnum strapped to his belt. More recently he was a volunteer deputy sheriff in Falls Church, VA, from 1997 to 1999. Q: What other gigs did Grease do on the radio? A: Like any other up-and-coming DJ, Grease worked at many other stations in other markets to develop his unique style. They include: Ithaca, NY (WICB-FM 91.7) 1968-1972; Ithaca, NY (WTKO-AM 1470) 1969-1972; Endicott, NY (Binghamton market) (WENE 1430) 1972; Rochester, NY (WAXC 1460) 7/72-4/73; Buffalo, NY (WAXC-AM 1460) 1973 (one night); Washington DC (WRC-AM 980) 4/73-1/74; Hartford, CT (WPOP 1410) 2/74-7/75; Washington DC (WRC-AM 980) 1975 (four days); Jacksonville, Florida (WAPE-AM 690) 8/75-7/82; Washington DC (WWDC-FM 101.1) 8/2/82-1/22/93. In 1993 The Greaseman Show became sindicated with Infinity Broadcasting. The show first went nationwide on 2/8/93, spreading to LA on 4/5/93. He was on in Atlanta, GA (WZGC-Z93 92.9), Baltimore/Washington (105.7 WJFK), Christiansburg, VA (WBNK-FM 100.7), Grand Junction, CO (station unknown), Jacksonville, FL (Ponte Vedra Beach) (WPVJ-FM 106.5), Los Angeles, CA (KLOS 95.5), New York, NY (WXRK-FM 92.3), Philadelphia, PA (WYSP 94.1), Poughkeepsie, NY (WNSX), Washington DC (1300-AM WJFK). The sindication lasted until 1/16/98. He then worked in Washington DC (94.7 WARW) from 5/19/97 to 2/25/99. This may be an incomplete list. If you know anything, please email me. Q: Did he always leave on good terms? A: In almost all cases, yes. One notable exception was WRC, when management decided his morning personality wasn't quite right and gave him a choice between dropping the "Greaseman" character and leaving. Grease chose the latter. If you ask about it today, he will joke about the time he was collecting unemployment insurance in DC and would "stay up to watch the moon rise and CURSE THE NIGHT!" although I'm sure at the time it was somewhat unsettling. Although he left Florida voluntarily to take the better offer at DC/101, he did offend some bible-belt types during his stay. The Florida gig was important to developing the Grease as a "god-fearing, truck-driving redneck," though. The Florida station has since gone to religious music ("From Grease to Grace" was their motto for a while). Their loss. Q: Why was he fired from WARW? A: On Wednesday, February 24, 1999, Grease was doing a bit of topicality on the Grammies when he played a soundclip of a Lauren Hill song. After playing the clip he commented "No wonder people drag them behind trucks." The comment was related to a recent incident in Texas where a black man was killed by being drug behind a truck. Though the Greaseman didn't mean anything by it, he was suspended, and shortly after, fired. Many Greasefans believe that he was wrongly fired, because as immediately stated after the comment, he "didn't mean nothin!" Q: But there was that "Martin Luther King, Jr." incident in DC? A: January 20, 1986, he was noting the passing of Martin Luther King Jr's birthday (which had then only recently become a national holiday). Grease said "Yeah, i think it should be a holday. Not only that, i think we ought to plug four more and take the whole week off!" Grease was suspended, and apologized for the incident on an "Editorial Rebuttal" on WRC-TV in DC. Q: Is Greaseman a bigot/homophobe? A: Certainly not. Grease parodies what's funny in everyone, and winds up defusing hatred as a result. Grease respects all of his fans, and wishes well even those who don't like him. Q: What other things has the Greaseman been on? A: Grease also appeared on the Larry King Show (early to mid-80's) to talk about morning radio in general. The only down side was that he was teamed with a "Morning Zoo" DJ as a co-interviewee, a format that has become annoyingly ubiquitous on the radio landscape. Transcripts may be available (don't know how to get them, sorry). This is the old Mutual show that ran all night (Grease probably got up early to do it :-), and not the current CNN TV talk show. He has been on the G. Gordon Liddy Show and the Don and Mike Show in 1996. He has appeared in a couple of Jack Denehy Movie of the weeks, "Jack Reed: A Search for Justice", and "Jack Reed Champion of the Cheap Homicide". He plays a scumbag in both movies. He was also on a panel of pros at a National Assoc. of Broadcasters convention about creative radio. In January 2000, he briefly played Chip Bandwidth on a series of humerous infomercials for Matchmaker.com, and he was on the Discovery Channel original show, the FBI Files, in the episode called "The Dixie Mafia" where he reenacted the role of Pete Halat, a judge who payed to have his former partner and wife killed. He was in a second Discovery Channel show, The Prosecutors, but that never aired. Q: Why does Howard Stern hate the Greaseman so much? A: Howard worked for DC/101 until he resigned. When the Greaseman was hired to take Howard's place, he not only held on to his audience, but increased it. Then when Howard syndicated in DC he competed with the Greaseman until Grease moved to Infinity where they were coworkers for the broadcasting giant. As Grease put it, they were "Boss Jock Buddies." Howard also hates the Greaseman for the same reason he hates all other radio personalities: He claims that he was the first to do his type of show and that everyone else is ripping him off. You can find more information about this in Howard Stern's book "Private Parts." Q: Are there any good biographies or other comprehensive stories about the Greaseman? A: Grease is a very private person, and spent a number of years in DC before finally consenting to an in-depth story about him in the Washington Post Magazine November 29, 1987. It's a good resource to summarize his past gigs and overall life story. Also the Washingtonian Magazine did an article on him in the January of 1993 in commemoration of his departure from DC. There was also the article in the November 1994 Penthouse. And of course in 1997, he wrote an "in-character" biography called "And They Ask Me Why I Drink." Q: Where can I find Greaseman stuff on the internet? A: There are quite a few places out there for you. First of all, for some high quality general sites with alot of everything, try Steve Olsen’s site at http://www.greaseman.org, Kauzmo’s site at http://greaseman.kauzmo.net/ and my site at http://www.greaseman.net. For some archived bits try bibbings’ site at http://greaseman.jumpfun.com/, Pete's site at http://www.petedoerr.org/grease.html, and 3 sites at reelradio.com - http://www.petedoerr.org/grease.html, http://www.reelradio.com/gk/index.html, and http://www.reelradio.com/jl/index.html. For some good fan pages try Pisa’s site at http://www.xs4all.nl/~pisa0/grease1.htm and Stikman's site at http://www.reelradio.com/jl/index.html. To buy some Greaseman tapes try Paul’s site at http://members.aol.com/paulscjaa/ and the Ingus site at http://ingus.webjump.com/. Q: What does AMF mean? A: He always claims it means "Adios my friends" though there has been speculation that it might mean something else... This is my tenth version of the FAQ last updated March 22, 2001. If you have anything to add to this FAQ or any corrections to make, feel free to email me at jrw78@aol.com