'Nashville Christian radio is Doug Griffin': 26-year personality is signing off — for now

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After 26 years on Nashville Christian radio stations, Doug Griffin will sign off April 30 because his longtime radio home, 94FM The Fish, was sold to a competing Christian radio network.

"I was definitely sad and devastated when I heard," he said.

Griffin — Nashville's longest-running Christian radio station personality — talked with The Tennessean about his funniest bits and his most raw on-air revelation. He also revealed who the sweetest and who the best-smelling Christian music artists are.

And Griffin's co-hosts talked about his personality, how he has survived in an always-changing medium and what he has meant to contemporary Christian music fans in the Nashville area.

"Doug is vigilant about figuring out how to make everyone feel included. He makes you feel like you're family. I think that’s why he is so beloved in Middle Tennessee," said Kim Bindel, Griffin's longest-running co-host. "He has put in the years for this community and is adored for that one simple reason — he cares."

Griffin has the fourth longest-running stint on Nashville radio in any genre, behind WSM's Bill Cody, Mix 92.9's Barbara Bridges and Lightning 100 personality Lt. Dan.

"Quite honestly, Nashville Christian radio is Doug Griffin," said Karla Lawson Henry, one of Griffin's co-hosts in the late 1990s at WAY-FM. "He is truly part of people’s lives on a daily basis."

In the beginning

Born in the Bay Area in California, Griffin, 57, fell in love with old-time radio theater and comedy shows on KSFO in San Francisco when he was a kid. Griffin, when he was a high school foreign exchange student in Germany, used a home stereo system to record audio messages for friends on cassette tapes, calling those messages "broadcasts" on "KDUG."

Griffin went to college at San Jose State University, worked at the student radio station and, after junior year, landed a job doing traffic reports at a professional San Francisco station and quit college.

After several years jumping around California radio stations, Griffin landed a job as morning show co-host for Christian station WAY-FM in Nashville in 1998. In 2002, that station let Griffin go, and 10 weeks later, he landed at new Christian station 94FM The Fish, where he has worked ever since.

Favorite bits, favorite Christian artists

In a two-hour interview with The Tennessean, Griffin talked about the segments and the contemporary Christian music artists he liked best.

Favorite bits

• When he found out his first WAY-FM co-host Connie Wetzell Jones played accordion, Griffin had her squeeze out covers of the day's hottest Christian music hits, calling it, "The Gospel Accordion to Connie."

• On WAY-FM, he and co-host Lawson hosted police officer Scott Robinson telling crazy crime stories as Dancing Bear in a segment they called "Crooks Get Busted."

• On 94FM The Fish, Latina co-host and Christian artist Jaci Velasquez could teach him Spanish words on the air in a segment they called "Spanish 101."

• "The Almost Impossible Question" was a lifestyle trivia segment asking things like who's the most popular TV chef. (Survey says — Guy Fieri.)

• "Love on Your Kids Friday" is when listeners would share great things that are happening with their children or give their children on-air shout-outs.

• "The Christmas Novelty Songs Contest" where Griffin and his co-host each year would argue about the best secular Christmas novelty song. (One year, Griffin argued vehemently in favor of "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.")

Christian artists superlatives

In addition to interviewing almost every significant performer in the genre, Griffin often asked those artists to co-host radio shifts with him when he regular sidekicks were off for vacation or illness. Some of his take-aways from time with the artists follow.

• Sweetest: Amy Grant (duh), who once, through Griffin's station, surprised a mega fans with a visit.

• Best smelling: Michael W. Smith

• Most awkward moment: Griffin once said Phil Joel from the Newsboys was from Australia, to which Joel shot back, "No, mate, I’m from New Zealand." "I felt he was put off," Griffin said sheepishly.

Weird Al and wonderful things

Biggest fan boy moment: As an adult, Griffin stood in line for hours waiting to meet childhood hero Weird Al Yankovic.

On-air fundraisers for: Nashville Rescue Mission, One Generation Away food distribution charity, Men of Valor prison inmate reentry program and more.

Best on-air connection with a listener: Griffin connected with regular 94FM The Fish listener named Donald, who has intellectual and developmental disabilities. Griffin and Donald now run errands together twice a week and talk nearly every day.

Most moving moment: Griffin talked on the air about his mother dying by suicide in 2016, weeping in the process. "The listeners really poured into me," he said.

Only in Nashville: Griffin once served on a Williamson County jury to settle a land dispute. Also on that jury — Christian artists Steven Curtis Chapman and Bob Hartman of rock group Petra.

Lovin' on Doug

Here's what his co-hosts had to say about Griffin, on and off the air.

Connie Wetzell Jones, WAY-FM, 1998 to 1999: "Listeners, they loved him, absolutely loved him. A real personable guy, real sincere, upbeat and positive. People liked listening to him and being around him."

Karla Lawson Henry, WAY-FM, 1999 to 2001: "Doug was the best partner; he didn’t care who got the laugh as long as we got one. He celebrated my wins as much as his own, if not more. ... He’s approachable and he’s kind and he’s compassionate. It’s who you want to ride with in your car every day."

Kim Bindel, 94FM The Fish, 2002 to 2011: "Not having him on the air for the family of listeners will be a huge loss. I know I join the entire Middle Tennessee community when I say Doug, thank you so much for your love, sweat and tears to invest in a community that loves you dearly!"

Jaci Velasquez, 94FM The Fish, 2011 to 2016: "Doug has been such a stable beacon for Christian music here in Middle Tennessee.... Even before I was a cohost, I really appreciated as an artist how he made you feel like you were the only person in the room. He had that gift and that ability when he interviewed you."

Jayme Summers, 94FM The Fish, 2022 to present: "To be able to work beside someone with such vast experience in our industry has been a huge blessing.... The most fun that I have had on air in my 25 years of radio has been the past two years sitting across from Doug Griffin."

Heartbreak and gratitude

Griffin said he initially struggled with the news that 94FM The Fish would shut down after being sold.

"I’ve been connected to that station forever. To not be Doug on The Fish is kind of jarring," he said.

The station's new owners have yet to reveal what they'll do with the signal at 94.1 FM. In a statement, EMF CEO Todd Woods said only, “We are grateful for the opportunity to grow and keep Christian music flowing over these frequencies."

Griffin also said he's grateful for his 26 years on Nashville Christian radio, adding that he has received plenty. "The satisfaction of knowing I impacted so many people’s lives and getting to do what I love for a career for a higher purpose."

Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com or 615-259-8384.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Doug Griffin to sign off after 26 years on Nashville Christian radio