Milton Metz
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Milton Metz is a once-popular local radio and television personality in Louisville, Kentucky.
"El Metzo Grande," as he is known to fans, is best known for his WHAS (AM) radio call-in show, Metz Here, which began its run on July 20, 1959 (with the title Juniper-5-2385), and ended on June 10, 1993. Though records aren't clear on the subject, Metz Here is believed to be one of the very first — perhaps the first — call-in shows on radio. In a way, Metz pioneered a format that is still used today by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, but the differences between Limbaugh's political bombast and Metz's politeness couldn't be greater. Metz usually featured guests, and was always kind (almost to a fault) to both guests and callers. Many callers had such a reverence for Metz that they called him "Mr. Metz" when they got on the air. Thanks to the station's 50,000-watt clear channel AM signal, Metz Here was heard by listeners in 40 states and much of Canada.
Metz was also widely seen on local television, serving as co-host and co-producer of Omelet, a morning/lunchtime talk and news program on WHAS-TV, and was the station's weatherman for 19 years. He also interviewed countless celebrities on the first Saturday in May during WHAS-TV's traditional marathon pre-race show before the Kentucky Derby, where he was a fixture on "Millionaire's Row," home to well-heeled spectators in the clubhouse of Churchill Downs. Metz later pared down his work to a series of daily 90-second commentaries on WHAS Radio. They were discontinued around the turn of the century, and his voice now is heard almost exclusively on local commercials.
Metz was inducted into the University of Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 1989.[citation needed]
Metz was born in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Ohio State University. His first on-air words were "Mr. Watson, come here, I need you".[citation needed]
Little is publicized about Metz's personal life, including his age. In an interview with columnist Tom Dorsey of The Courier-Journal just prior to the end of his radio show in 1993, Metz would only say, "Let's just say I'm older than Diane Sawyer and younger than Mike Wallace." Wallace was 75 at the time.[citation needed]
