Merv Griffin To Host Talk Show

Feb. 22, 1965 - Merv Griffin has entered the nighttime talkathon field currently headed by Johnny Carson and Les Crane. He has been signed as the host of a nightly 90-minute interview and entertainment program to be presented by the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company beginning in late April.

The “Merv Griffin Show” will be televised on all five Westinghouse-owned stations and will be offered for national syndication. A Westinghouse spokesman said negotiations were under way to obtain an outlet for the taped series in New York; the Westinghouse stations are in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, and San Francisco.

Griffin said that tentative plans called for his show to be produced in California, but that he hoped to convince Westinghouse it should be done in New York.

Westinghouse announced that “That Regis Philbin Show,” which WPIX New York dropped last month, will terminate with the show taped March 5.

“Other projects are being developed for Mr. Philbin,” the spokesman said. The projects do not include a show of his own.

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