Todd Griffin is part of the Black Patch Grand Marshals for WPKY. Griffin is widely known in this area as the authority on local sports.
Giffin is a lifelong resident of Caldwell County and has been part of the news media since his high school years. At age 15 his dad gave him a job picking peppers and he soon realized he wanted to do something different. He applied for a job at WPKY that would set the course for his life. He started out working nights and weekends then during his senior year he would co-op and go to work at 11:00 am each day.
Griffin’s first experience in radio came as an elementary student when 2 students were asked to be a part of the Library reading program on the air. On the day of his scheduled reading the other student did not show up and that left him anxious when he and Mrs. Pettit were the only ones to go to the station and do the reading. He always liked sports and wanted to call play-by-play on the air but that took a while. He said Twyman Boren was patient with him and after 3 years started letting him cover games and than a couple of years later he got to do the play-by-play.
click to download audGriffin worked at the radio station for around 8 – 9 years until it was sold. He then went to work at the Times-Leader part time in the dark room and covering ballgames. This is when he became deeply involved in covering local sports and became the sports editor in 1997. He was in that position until the paper was sold and shortly after he returned to WPKY. He shared several changes had occurred since his first time in radio.
click to download audioRecent years have brought even more changes and video to the radio.
click to download audioGriffin became comfortable being known as the sports guy and throughout the years has learned many more details of different sports as they were added to the local school scene. He said he started playing golf to be able to know how to cover that sport. He shared that with the addition of more sports there are times when multiple games in different sports are played the same day and he tries to cover as many as possible. He has attended over 400 football games and probably several thousand other various games over the years. One thing that is special to Griffin is the relationships he has made with coaches and students during his coverage of the sports and those friendship continue after they move to other levels and jobs. Through the years he recalls some special times.
click to download audioBeing Grand Marshal reminds him how committed WPKY is to this community.
click to download audioGriffin believes there are many good times ahead for WPKY.
click to download audioGriffin invites everyone to the football game after the Parade on Friday, September 9th.
