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Story Archives: Moon Griffon Show celebrates 15 years of broadcasting


Moon Griffon Show celebrates 15 years of broadcasting
by Scott Rogers - posted Friday, August 22nd, 2008 @ 1:08 pmE-mail Story E-mail Story | Print Story Print Story 
Moon Griffon never believed his talk show would remain on the air 15 days, much less 15 years.

Today, the Moon Griffon Show is one of the more popular talk shows in Louisiana.

To thank his listeners for tuning in for the past 15 years and to celebrate the show's 15th anniversary in the Monroe market, Griffon hosted his radio program Friday at The Atrium hotel in Monroe. Refreshments were served to the roughly 100 people who came and went during the two hour program, which airs locally each week day from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. on AM Talk 540. Griffon's program also is syndicated, airing each week day in markets from Shreveport to Alexandria to Lake Charles to Lafayette, the Baton Rouge area and elsewhere.

"I didn't think I would make 15 days," Griffon said. "It all just started with a hope and a dream to go do this and speak for the average person. Who speaks for the common person? It's not the politicians."

After years of listening and calling in to various talk radio shows, Griffon, who was in the catering business when he launched his radio program, decided hosting a talk radio show was a path he wanted to pursue.

"I thought wouldn't it be neat to do a program, and it came about by the grace of God," Griffon explained. "Peggy Sullivan walked into a place I was catering, and I asked her what it cost to get on the air. She said, 'Are you interested?' I said, 'I'm curious.' And that started the whole thing."

Griffon was given the opportunity to do four programs once a week. That was back in 1993.

"After about two or three shows, she (Sullivan) came back and said, 'Look, we've gotten a good response, would you like to do more?'" Griffon continued. "I couldn't make any money at the time, and they were scared I wanted to run for office, which I don't. But that's why they were real leery about putting me on. It's been a gradual process and a lot of hard work. I'm still raw at this in a lot of ways. It's a lot a fun, but you have to juggle being on the air and being good enough to stay on the air."

Griffon eventually became successful enough to become a full-time talk show host. He takes care of the show in the morning, and during the rest of the day, he sells his own advertising. Griffon also spends time on the road visiting radio stations across the state that broadcast his program. His visits around the state often entail Griffon selling advertising for his program in those markets, too.

Griffon's show saw a huge boost in listeners recently when he was at the forefront in opposition to a pay raise for state legislators.

"People started talking about it, and others said, 'You need to listen to Moon,'" Griffon said. "Everyone wanted to hear every day the latest on the pay raise. All of sudden we're picking up new listeners who are tuning in because of something specific that affects them. That's how you grow audiences, and now you have to hold them."
"That's the trick," Griffon added. "You don't want to run people off."

Griffon believes talk radio works best when a host provides useful information with some humor scattered throughout the program.

"They've got to be able to laugh," he said. "Nobody's going to listen to me bickering every day. But, they'll catch the fun mixed in with some of the good stuff and the hard stuff. They can take something like that and walk away and enjoy the program."

"It's still a work in progress," Griffon continued. "I'm still trying to make the show better. Even though I've been here 15 years, I can learn something new every day. It's been 15 years … will we go another 15, I don't know. I don't know if we'll go another day. But it's been a lot of fun, and we'll take it a day at a time. I thank Monroe and West Monroe for the support. This is our home, and we love it here. I don't want to be anywhere else."
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