Petey Greene - Career

Career

In the summer of 1966, Greene was hired by Dewey Hughes to work as a disc jockey at AM radio station WOL-1450 and to host his own show. Rapping With Petey Greene aired in the Washington Metropolitan Area throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. His prominence grew, and soon he was hosting his own television show, Petey Greene's Washington, with a six-year run from 1976 to 1982 on WDCA-20. This show won two Emmy Awards. On March 8, 1978, he was invited as a guest to the White House by United States President Jimmy Carter to honour visiting Yugoslavian President Josip Broz Tito. He famously quipped to the Washington Post that he "stole a spoon" during the evening gala.

In 1981, Greene had radio personality Howard Stern on his show for what was one of Stern's first television appearances. Stern appeared on the show in blackface, which Greene found funny. The audio of this interview eventually was played as part of the 2007 Sirius satellite radio documentary The History of Howard Stern, in which Stern called Greene "way ahead of his time". The two shared a mutual admiration, as they both dealt with such controversial subjects as race and politics, with Stern since recognizing him as an influence. Stern later called Greene a "broadcasting genius" in his 1993 book Private Parts.