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Archive-name:  greaseman-faq

    The Greaseman is a radio personality on the Infinity Broadcasting
network.  He broadcasts from Los Angeles to New York City, Washington,
Atlanta, Philadelphia, and San Jose.  He is known for his bits
and song parodies.  He also has his own vocabulary which he uses to avoid
trouble with the FCC.  Before, he broadcast out of DC on DC/101 where he
competed and beat Howard Stern on a consistant basis.  The Greaseman is on
by himself most of the time, though sometimes you hear his producer, Bill
Scanlan cackling in the background.

Q:  What is the Greaseman's real name?

A:  Doug Tracht.  He prefers to keep his radio life and his personal life
    separate.  His radio name is Nino Greasemaneli.


Q:  Why does Howard Stern hate the Greaseman so much?

A:  Howard worked for DC/101 until he got fired.  When the Greaseman was
    hired to take Howie's place he not only held on to Howie's audience
    but increased it.  Then when Howard syndicated in DC he competed
    with the Grease until the Grease moved to Infinity where they now
    are co-workers for the Broadcasting Giant.  Now, mentions of the
    Greaseman on the Howard Stern show appears to be just an act in
    part of Stern.


Q:  Which one was the Grease in the Village People?

A:  He was not really in the Village People.  But in the bit, he was the
    construction worker.


Q:  What is this Bingo that the Grease dislikes so much?

A:  The Greaseman's college nick name... Ask him about it.

Q:  How can I get in touch with him?

A:  Call him between 1730 and 2200 EST at 1-800-544-9294 and
    1-213-850-0986 (FAX) and BTW do not address him as "dude".


Q:  What bits does the Greaseman do?

A:    Fudgeman-    Fudgeman and his chicken assistant throbin
            save the world from deviant behavior
    Back in time with an uzi-
            the Grease uses the equipment in the radio
            studio to return to key moments in history
            with his uzi
    Carlos the International Terrorist-
            Episodes of running into the famed and heavily
            armed terrorist, Carlos
    Medical Man-    Stories about when Nino was the pompous
            Dr. Greasemaneli
    Bet the Bomb Bays-
            Try to stump the Grease, but if you don't, you best
            drop them pants....
    Sgt. Fury-    the Grease relives his time in Viet
    Deliverance 101-
            a class in which the Grease analyzes the movie
            Deliverance.
    Clinton-    a look at how life would be if the Grease and
            Clint Eastwood got a knock on the head and decided
            to live alternative lifestyles
    Law Man-    the Grease tells about life as a law man
    Big Dick Brannigan-
            the Grease tells about his flashback to his past
            life as a private dick
    Emperor Tocasfacius-
            the Grease tells about his flashback to his past
            life as a ruler of the Holy Roman Empire
    Irving Greasemanawitz-
            the Grease tells about his flashback to his past
            life as the first Yiddish Lawman
    Wheel Chair Warrior-
            Super Hero fights for the rights of the handicapped
    West Virginia-    Greaseman shows his respect for the people of WVA
    My Daddy-    Description of how Oscar Greasemaneli gets into trouble
    Ugly Women-    Recounts of how The Grease and his daddy picked up
            and enjoyed ingus with ugly women
    Good Ship Grease-
            stories about how the Grease spends his lesiure time
            in his boat.
    South of the border-
            stories about how the Grease spent time in Mexico
    Toe Monster-    The dreaded Toe Monster is exposed for trying to
            eat the Greaseman's toes
    Blastapiece Theatre-
            stories told by Sly Stalone
    Sylvester Stalone sings the classics-
            Sylvester Stalone sings the classics.
    Rag Nad-    stories about Grease's half space alien love child
    Six Minute Workout-
            A unique workout for men
    Baby talk-    Conversations with the unborn
    The Greaseman Quiz (formerly the morning quiz)-
            Watch out Alex Trebek, here comes the Greaseman
    Hobo-doo-ga-ga Handbook-
            Methods to which recieve ingus.
    Damien-        The Grease has occasion to run into the "dark master"
            while he is trying to perform his duties.




Q:  What is the alarm that is sometimes heard in the background when the
    Greaseman talks?

A:  The Geeze alarm.  This goes off when the greaseman starts geezing.

Q:  What other gigs did Grease do on the radio?

A:  Like any other up-and-coming DJ, Grease worked at other stations in
other markets to develop his unique style.  They include:


Washington DC (WRC-AM 980) 1974 - 1976
Jacksonville, Florida (WAPE) 1976 - 1981
Washington DC (WWDC-FM 101.1) 1981-1993

Q:  Did he always leave on good terms?

In almost all cases, yes.  The 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:  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 Fall 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 commemeration of his
departure from DC.

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.

Q:  Are there any albums or compilations of Grease bits?

A:  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).

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 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.

Q:  Is Greaseman a bigot/homophobe?

A:  Certainly not.  Like the program "In Living Color" or even
rec.humor.funny, 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:  But there was that "Martin Luther King, Jr." incident in DC?

A:  Yes, sometimes there's a fine line between parody and cruelty, and
Grease crossed the line only once during his otherwise unmarred broadcasting
career spanning over 2 decades.

Sometime in the late 80's, he was noting the passing of Martin Luther
King Jr.'s birthday (which had then only recently become a national
holiday).  Grease said something about "killing 4 more and getting rest
of the week off."  Grease was suspended, and apologized for the incident
on an "Editorial Rebuttal" on WRC-TV in DC.

Haven't the rest of you made mistakes or are you all perfect?

Q:  What does AMF mean?

A:  Adios my friend.


Q:  What is the "Bit without an Ending?"

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 posessed 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.
He owns the rights to all his bits, and may rerun it on his current show
from time to time.

Q:  What stations carry the Greaseman?

A:      City        Station        Time
     ====        =======        ====
    Washington DC    106.7 WJFK    1900-2300
    Baltimore MD    1300 WJFK    1900-2300
    New York NY    92.3 WXRK    1800-2200
    Philadelphia PA    94.1 WYSP    1800-2200
    Los Angeles CA    95.5 KLOS    2200-0200
    San Jose CA    98.5 KOME    1500-1900
    Atlanta GA    92.9 WZGC    0600-1000