Face it, Doug Tracht got screwed. He said the wrong thing at the wrong time. I don't fault him anymore than Imus or any other of the so called shock jocks.

I don't listen to any of them now so it isn't really an important subject in my life.

The simple truth that Mr. Tracht needs to confront is that he is irrelevant in today's radio market. His time has passed. If radio thought he could attract an audience, he would be hired in a heartbeat.
That having been said, I cannot explain why Imus is considered bankable. He is less than irrelevant. It will be interesting to see if the high-profile guests return. I think not. Any self-respecting politician, etc. will put great distance between themselves and Imus.

It is easy to explain Grease's situation: His intelligence and wit are far too complicated for the dumb-as-a-rock target audience that most stations cater to. Combine that with GMs who are really nothing more than pencil-pushers...

I would wager that less than 2% of the world population has common sense and intelligence. The rest, alas, are lemmings.

To even mention Stern's name in the same sentence with Doug Tracht's is offensive. Stern is nothing but shock value.

Doo dads, schnarlin', hydraulics, man that was all so funny. My brother and I skipped school one morning and went to see the Greasman do his show at DC 101 over off of Brookville Road in Silver Spring. What the hell, Biff Cantrel?

The Greaseman is a Washington, DC institution, as with most great genius will probably not be recognized as such until many years from now, largely misunderstood by people in general.

Gee, what ever happened to the days of Greaseman. After playing a Lauren Hill song, he made the comment, "No wonder they drag them behind trucks." Such a well timed joke; immediately after a black teen was dragged behind a truck to his death.

To quote Lora's quote above, posted November 26, 2007 07:47 AM:
"His intelligence and wit are far too complicated for the dumb-as-a-rock target audience that most stations cater to."

Yes, his intelligence and wit did his career wonders.

Grease is a comedy genius. He should be forgiven his 2 mistakes as we have forgiven those people before and since him that have said the same things or far worse.

Let's hope his comedy finds its way to the forefront again. We need to laugh more than ever in today's world.

The Greaseman was incredibly talented but he made a big mistake with those two things he said. They weren't innocuous, Mark -- they were hateful. I loved the guy, but I understand why he got dumped.

Oh, and Imus and Howard Stern are total and complete a--holes.

Face it! Greaseman is a joke and done with! He has been horrific for years is a Stern knock off and flat out cannot measure up! Who is blowing who in this article. Get the facts right! Greaseman is a joke - stay on the water because you are dried up!

nice job, Marc. you write well.

Wait, why are we lamenting that there is one fewer vicious racist on the air?

He knew how ugly and hateful and awful those things were that he said; good Lord, he was categorically endorsing murdering black people. And he did it twice. (Hee hee, funny!) He took a calculated risk that the shock value of the statements would gain more listeners than it alienated, and that enough of his viewers would be racist enough to laugh; he lost his gamble. The end. Now he gets to live with it.

It is fair to say he used to be a racist. I don't think he is one now though, more the opposite. He's paid a lot higher price than most people for that kind of stupidity.

I was unhappy with the comments he made that got him in trouble, but I otherwise liked his stuff. I can't say the same of either Stern or Imus. Those 2, well, I don't much like the former, and loath the latter.

His treatment reflects an over consolidated media market that doesn't want to take any risks. They somehow want shocking but safe, and that's just stupid and makes for managerial conflicts.

I am glad to hear he's done the work to get his act together with the biased stuff. It doesn't surprise me too much that his motivations had nothing to do with any deep seated hate for blacks... In fact, it sort of figures given his career choice that something this dumb would be his weapon for self inflicted pain.

Mr. Fisher, thanks for the Greaseman coverage and pointing out the "unfairness". I guess all is fair in love, war and the media we all seamlessly consume and take for granted.

WMET-AM 1160 has a high powered first class 50,000 Watt signal. Due to FCC rules, it powers down to 1K at sunset, but that did not effect the Greaseman Show for the most part. WMET's is not a neighborhood signal. During the day, from a transmitter in Gaithersburg, its signal ranges from Pennsylvania through Northern VA and from WVA to the Chesapeake Bay. It is huge.

From what I understand, when with WMET, Grease's show received tons of hits and long-term listeners from all over the country -- both in streaming and podcasts.

Greaseman re-attained a top-notch position for the two years he broadcast from WMET. Greaseman did his show from new studios in Silver Spring since April. Before that from the station's studios on M Street NW in the District. In between he was at his home studio for a couple of months while the build-out was completed in Silver Spring. I mention this because it has been said in numerous places that he did his show from home since he fell from grace... this assertion is simply not accurate.

From what I have personally observed, and recently too, the Greasman is not a racist. His long-term girlfriend is not white. He has many acquaintences and fans who are not white. He is a decent human being who knows he made a mistake. Too bad that forgiveness is tough to deliver. Granted racism is a serious matter and it has no place in our media teething sources... no need to make light of this and Grease will not.

Greaseman is a radio pro and an entertainment talent of the highest rank that deserves another chance. If Stern, Imus and others are redeemed at a national ranking, the Greaseman deserves the chance to be proven and bankable at that level too. I think with proper marketing resources following a commitment from a media partner, the Greaseman will regain a foothold both locally and nationally. He may have to re-tweak his show but it is possible.

He was great in his day! But the best in the business now are Opie and Anthony, and I don't see him being able to compete ever again.

Grease is one of the few genuine talents on radio today. Or maybe I should say "off radio." He has no staff writers and no handlers. I don't think he's really even a racist. He's just a comedian who can improvise for four hours a day, hundreds of days a year, for virtually the same audience every time. (With most comics known for ad libs, the 10 o'clock show improv sounds almost exactly the same as the 8 o'clock show did.) Working live, he has to decide within a split second what's funny, what isn't and what's over the line. It's no surprise that, even with his amazing instincts, he'd get it wrong sometimes.
He's the best there is.

Grease is one of the few genuine talents on radio today. Or maybe I should say "off radio." He has no staff writers and no handlers. I don't think he's really even a racist. He's just a comedian who can improvise for four hours a day, hundreds of days a year, for virtually the same audience every time. (With most comics known for ad libs, the 10 o'clock show improv sounds almost exactly the same as the 8 o'clock show did.) Working live, he has to decide within a split second what's funny, what isn't and what's over the line. It's no surprise that, even with his amazing instincts, he'd get it wrong sometimes.
He's the best there is.

Not only did the man not once, but twice make nasty, hateful comments about Blacks but he made special effort with the Lauryn Hill song. As Marc pointed out, 94.7 is/was a classic rock station and as such didn't have Lauryn or hip-hop (or anything produced after about 1980)on their playlist. Seriously, it was the one place Fleetwood Mac still got any play. So it's not as though the song popped up and he made an impromptu comment. Not to mention the delay that stations have used for years so that some of the more colorful callers didn't get a station fined. He could've dumped his comment before it got to the air. As a Black female, if it was a 'death is not an option' deal I'd take being called a nappy headed ho over someone wanting to kill me for a day off or wanting to drag me behond a truck.
Besides, someone upthread had it right: if radio thought he could get the job done and bring in listeners and revenue he's be on the air. O&A, Imus, Stern all have jobs; Greaseman doesn't. Doo-dads and hobble-do-gee! apparently won't cut it anymore.

Not only did the man not once, but twice make nasty, hateful comments about Blacks but he made special effort with the Lauryn Hill song. As Marc pointed out, 94.7 is/was a classic rock station and as such didn't have Lauryn or hip-hop (or anything produced after about 1980)on their playlist. Seriously, it was the one place Fleetwood Mac still got any play. So it's not as though the song popped up and he made an impromptu comment. Not to mention the delay that stations have used for years so that some of the more colorful callers didn't get a station fined. He could've dumped his comment before it got to the air. As a Black female, if it was a 'death is not an option' deal I'd take being called a nappy headed ho over someone wanting to kill me for a day off or wanting to drag me behond a truck.
Besides, someone upthread had it right: if radio thought he could get the job done and bring in listeners and revenue he's be on the air. O&A, Imus, Stern all have jobs; Greaseman doesn't. Doo-dads and hobble-do-gee! apparently won't cut it anymore.

Grease could have returned (eventually) as a major radio personality if he had taken the time to prepare for it before his career came crashing down. Imus and Stern were smart enough to know that they would someday cross over the line, and they prepared for it. Grease didn't.

Grease is one of the most talented, intelligent, imaginative people ever to be on radio. But he used his talent to say shocking, outrageous, disgusting things. He should not be surprised that the public was shocked, outraged, and disgusted with what he said. And he was naive enough to think that he would always get away with it. So he was not prepared when his career crashed.

Imus was prepared. He is back on the air not just because he generates good revenue. It's also because he has powerful friends and does outstanding charity work.

Stern is not talented at broadcasting, but he is a brilliant publicist. And he knew when to jump to satellite radio. He was smart enough to stay one step ahead of the rest of us.

If you spend your career at the edge, then you had better be prepared in case you fall over the edge.

Let me preface my comments by mentioning that I am a black man who started listening to Grease in the early 80's when I was at UMD. I instantly fell in love with the show. I found that I had the same brand of humor and became a loyal listener. When he made the two infamous comments I was very disappointed, but not mortally hurt. I had listened to countless jokes and stories from the Grease and out of all those only found two I wasn't that fond of. That's I promise is a great record of more than 99%.

I can take a joke - some cannot. Be it the N work or whatever, unless those words are preventing me from being happy, preventing me from paying my mortgage, preventing me from enjoying the company of family and friends, then they have no effect on me. That is not to discount the effect they may have on others, but that is more a statement on the level of sensitivity of those folk to simple words and the whole psychology of what I call "perpetual victim syndrome".

I have a lot of fond memories of the Grease and have followed him on the internet wherever he has gone. I was also very surprised when I heard he was leaving WMET after spending tine and effort building his audience back.

As a loyal listener, I think to be very truthful to myself, I would say that for all the enjoyment I have received from the Grease and the acknowledgment of his genius, he has limited himself to a very specific audience by not updating his routines. He seems to be stuck in a time period and this really becomes evident when he makes analogies and observations that bring up people and events that occurred 20-30 years ago. This is fine for me, because I remember many of these events and people, but in order to thrive and survive in todays radio, you have to be relevant to today's listeners while not alienating the older listeners. To do this you must be familiar with what's hip with todays trends and personalities. I could be selfish and wish the Grease to come back a.s.a.p. because that would serve my needs, but if I want the Grease to become bigger and better than ever, I would hope he doesn't attempt a comeback until he revamps much of his routine to make it more modern and relevant. If you need to hit the geeze alarm, you should probably revamp it.

For what it's worth, as much as I loved the skits, I always found his Nino news roundups and general musings about general observations and events to be the most entertaining.

Man you gotta be kidding me.

"Tracht, 57, was always the most talented of the shock jocks, a storyteller so verbally nimble, so fantastically imaginative that his showmanship seemed wasted on an audience of adolescent guys."

On what planet?! Marc Fisher has zero credibility if he's claiming that. But okay, so that's a matter of opinion. Maybe Fisher has no taste. It's possible. But THIS gem:

"his ratings, once superior to Stern's"

is just an out-and-out lie. When were his rating superior to Stern's? In 1980? Get a grip. I have a feeling Fisher's source on that little nugget was the Greaseman himself. Or he just doesn't have a source and made it up completely. What a hack writer you are, Fisher. It's disgusting, the complete lack of principles you show when creating this drivel.

And if you can't tell the difference between Greaseman's outright racism and Stern's satire of racists, maybe you should find a job that doesn't involve anything creative. You're either an idiot or taking money from the Greaseman to write this column. For shame.

Stern should put the Grease on Sirius.

Greaseman's thing was fundamentally different than Stern's. You know, the apples and oranges story. I preferred Grease.(I'm one of the few who never "got" Stern) Yeah, he made a couple of racist comments,he's not the only one. I miss him, miss Bob Edwards too. It's not so much that time has passed the Greaseman by it's just that radio is not as relevant as it once was. The good old days are not returning either. As for satellite, the same a-hole consultant types who ruined terrestial radio are now running XM and Sirius and want us to pay to listen: NEVER. I'll get along with my 1500 i-pod, a pretty good OK Triple A I can pick up and public radio music shows. My kids watch Sponge Bob and I swear the voice of one of the characters sounds like Grease.