Bob Grant (radio host) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bob Grant
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| Born |
Robert Ciro Gigante
March 14, 1929 |
| Died | December 31, 2013 (aged 84) |
| Occupation | Radio personality |
| Years active | 1940s–2013 |
Robert Ciro Gigante (March 14, 1929 – December 31, 2013), known as Bob Grant, was an American radio host. A veteran of broadcasting in New York City, Grant is considered a pioneer of the conservative talk radio format and was one of the early adopters of the "combat talk" format. Grant's career spanned from the 1950s until shortly before his death at age 84 on December 31, 2013.
Grant was widely termed a political conservative, and personally considered himself to be a conservative with some libertarian leanings.
Contents
Career
Early work
As a high school student at Steinmetz High School in Chicago, Grant auditioned for the Central Radio Workshop of the Chicago Public Schools, where once every two weeks he would perform in plays on FM radio station WBEZ. After high school, Grant attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and studied journalism, where he also auditioned and got accepted for the school's radio station. As a student, Grant acted in plays, such as "the Duchess of Malfi". Grant left school early to take a job in radio. Grant originally got into professional radio when he answered a phone call for his roommate, and the program director calling thought he had a good voice. On May 14, 1948, Grant did his first professional news announcement, to discuss the formation of Israel. He then got a job at the news department at WBBM (AM) in Chicago and also continued acting in plays. Grant may have done other work as an extra, but he did not discuss his acting work much on his radio show. Grant also worked on a radio show called "Gold Coast" in the late 1950s, which had comedy skits. While at WBBM, he was forced to change his last name from "Gigante" to "Grant" in order to sound less ethnic. During the Korean War, he served in the Naval Reserve.
Grant then moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. Grant's first radio work in Los Angeles was on radio station KNX (AM) in 1959, where he worked with future actor Paul Condylis on the Condylis & Grant Comedy Show. The Los Angeles Times stated, "Their names are Paul Condylis and Bob Grant, voted by this corner as the outstanding newcomers of 1959. Prime Examples Condylis and Grant, a couple of dialecticians from Chicago, specialize in a form of comedy that is most popular today satire." Grant described the show as being similar to "Saturday Night Live" on the radio. Condylis and Grant would also entertain at places, such as college campuses. Afterwards Grant later became sports director at KABC (AM) in Los Angeles. Grant was then urged by co-worker and early controversial radio host Joe Pyne to substitute for him. Shortly after, John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and Pyne being a critic of Kennedy's was not allowed to host his show, and Grant substituted for him, eventually inheriting the show in 1964.
Grant moved from KABC (AM) to KLAC in March 1967. In 1969, KLAC switched from a talk station to a music station. Grant was then asked to co-host a television show called "Tempo" with actress Jeanne Baird that aired on KHJ Channel 9 in Los Angeles from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Grant was eventually let go and replaced by Regis Philbin in July 1970.
Move to New York City (WMCA: 1970–1977)
Grant was approached to come to New York by executives at WMCA when WMCA was going to become a talk station. He was recommended to them by Jack Thayer, who had been the station manager of KLAC. Grant was opposed to the move, as he hated what he knew about New York. He also had four children and a home in Los Angeles. Grant was convinced to come to New York when an executive said to him at the end of a meeting, "It's just too bad that the number-one talk-show host in America doesn't want to come to the number-one market in America." Grant came to New York and presented his first show on WMCA on September 21, 1970, where he worked for station manager R. Peter Strauss. After being in New York for a short time, Grant wanted to go back to Los Angeles. He was contacted by the former news director at KLAC, who was now a program director at another station to join his station, but Grant declined, because he had signed a two-year contract with WMCA. Grant left WMCA in 1977.
WOR and WWDB
Grant began on WOR on Memorial Day, May 30, 1977, where he broadcast nights 11:30 p.m.–2:30 a.m. Grant took over the time-slot from host Barry Farber who hosted his show on it for 16 years, but had to give it up, because he was running for Mayor of New York City. According to producer Maurice Tunick, Grant had 24.3 share of the ratings at one point, meaning one in four people listening to the radio were listening to Grant's show.
In 1979, Grant had gotten into trouble for some comments he had made and was fired from WOR. Grant was assisted by colleague Barry Farber who fought with WMCA station manager Ellen Straus to rehire Grant. Farber broadcast during the 4–7 p.m. weekday time slot on WMCA. When asked by Straus at a meeting if Farber was willing to give up his airtime for Grant, Farber replied, "Yes he can have my time. I'd rather he have my time than no time at all." Grant describes the remarks that got him fired from WOR in a 2011 column:
I had done my nightly show on WOR and a caller phoned in to the show saying he was upset with a woman who was blaming the police for what happened to her sons. I had read the story the man was referring to and noted that the woman, who was very angry with the police, was the public relations director or community relations director of WCBS newsradio. I stupidly asked the caller if he knew how she got that job. The caller said he didn't know and I promptly and arrogantly said, "I will tell you how. She passed the gynecological and pigmentation test—that's how!" Not only did that turn off Roger Ailes, but WOR was forced to fire me even though I had given the radio giant the biggest overnight ratings they ever had.
After being fired from WOR, Grant worked at WWDB 96.5 FM in Philadelphia for a year. Grant stated in his book, Let's be Heard, "They actually ran me out of town. After a few months and no offers, I reluctantly agreed to take a job on a talk station in Philadelphia."
Grant returned to WMCA in June 1979 for a Saturday show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. while still working in Philadelphia during the week. In April 1980, Grant returned to WMCA full-time, where he was teamed with another radio host named Janet Rose. Mark Simone also worked for Grant as an intern during this time.
WABC (1984–1996)
In November 1984, WABC (AM) in New York City hired Grant to join their new talk station. He first hosted a show from 9–11 p.m., before moving to the 3–6 p.m. afternoon time slot. The Bob Grant Show consistently dominated the ratings in the highly competitive afternoon drive time slot in New York City and at one point the radio station aired recorded promos announcing him as "America's most listened to talk radio personality." The gravel-voiced Grant reminded listeners during the daily introduction that the "program was unscripted and unrehearsed". On September 15, 1991, a roast honoring Grant for twenty one years of radio in New York City was held in West Orange, New Jersey. Freddie Roman was the Master of Ceremonies, and Grant was roasted by New York Senator Al D'Amato, comedian Pat Cooper, Soupy Sales, Rush Limbaugh, comedian Joe Piscopo and Lynn Samuels, among others.
Grant introduced President George H. W. Bush to a crowd at Vets Field in Ridgewood, New Jersey while he campaigned for reelection on October 22, 1992.
One of the most popular eras of the Bob Grant Show was during the 1993 and 1994 New Jersey and New York elections. Grant helped Rudy Giuliani win in 1993 against David Dinkins, and was also campaigning for Christine Todd Whitman.
Grant's long stay at WABC ended when he was fired for a remark about the April 3, 1996, airplane crash involving Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. Grant remarked to caller named, Carl of Oyster Bay (Carl Limbacher, later of NewsMax fame), "My hunch is that [Brown] is the one survivor. I just have that hunch. Maybe it's because, at heart, I'm a pessimist." When Brown was found dead, Grant's comments were widely criticized, and several weeks later, after a media campaign, his contract was terminated. Grant's last show on WABC was on April 16, 1996, where he broadcast from the Reo Diner. He was fired the next day on April 17 by program director Phil Boyce after Grant had held an autograph-signing session for his book "Let's be Heard". Politicians who Grant had assisted, such as Christine Todd Whitman, Rudy Giuliani would never appear on Grant's radio show again, and George Pataki appeared one more time on Grant's last WOR show in January 2006.
Return to WOR (1996–2006)
After being fired, Grant moved down the dial to WOR to host his show in the same afternoon drive-time slot on April 29, 1996. Grant's age began to show while broadcasting at WOR. He was less engaging with the callers, and not as energetic during his broadcasts. For a time, The Bob Grant Show went into national syndication, but returned to being a local show in 2001. Grant and his WABC replacement Sean Hannity would sometimes throw jabs at each other. Hannity defeated Grant in the ratings from 2001 to 2006.
Grant's WOR run ended on January 13, 2006. Grant's ratings were not to blame for his departure, according to the New York Post, which mentioned that the decision was reached because the station's other shows had niche audiences to garner more advertising dollars. On January 16, 2006, shortly after Grant's last WOR show, Grant appeared on Sean Hannity's radio show and TV program Hannity & Colmes, where his former competitor paid tribute to him. Having left his options open for "an offer he cannot refuse," Grant returned to WOR in February 2006, doing one minute "Straight Ahead" commentaries which aired twice daily after news broadcasts until September 2006. On September 8, 2006, Grant again appeared on Hannity's show to provide a post-retirement update, which led to premature rumors that Grant was returning to WABC. Grant then made various isolated radio appearances. He appeared as a guest host on WFNY-FM (now WINS-FM) on December 7, 2006, and was interviewed by attorney Anthony Macri for Macri's WOR show on February 24, 2007.
Possible foray into politics
In 2000 Grant briefly considered running for United States Senate from New Jersey as an Independent. He went as far as creating a Draft Bob Grant Committee, but ultimately decided against entering the race. He also considered running for Mayor of New York City in the 1970s.
Post-Retirement: Return to WABC and Internet broadcasting
His guest appearances became more frequent beginning in July 2007. On July 6, 2007, he guest hosted for John R. Gambling, and appeared on Mark Levin's show (which is networked from WABC) on July 10. Grant, guest hosted for Jerry Agar on July 9, 10, 11 and re-appeared as a fill-in host again for John Gambling on August 20 and 21. Then, on August 22, while appearing on Hannity's show, he announced that he was returning as a regular host to WABC, in the 8–10 p.m. slot that at the time was filled by Agar. It would later be revealed, on what was Agar's final show a few hours later, that he would be starting effective immediately, as Grant took over the final segments of the show. His first full show on ABC since 1996 was on August 23. The story of Grant's return, as reported by the New York Daily News, had been discovered only a couple of hours before Grant's official announcement.
Grant's stint lasted less than a year and a half, until his regular nightly show was pulled by WABC in late November 2008 as part of a programming shuffle stemming from the debut of Curtis Sliwa's national show, and later Mark Levin's show expanding to three hours, leaving no room for Grant. Grant did his most recent AM radio work as guest host filling in for Michael Savage on January 21, 2009, Mark Levin on March 23, 2009, and Sean Hannity on July 31, 2009.
During the week of July 6, 2009, Grant began hosting an Internet radio show titled Straight Ahead! which originally ran Monday through Friday from 8 to 9 a.m. ET on UBATV.com. As a webcast, the show differed from Grant's radio shows, in that the viewer watched Grant as he did his broadcast. The first two months of Straight Ahead! were from inside Grant's home, and were run with technical assistance from independent filmmaker Ryan O'Leary. New York radio personalities Richard Bey and Jay Diamond were also brought on board to broadcast their own one-hour shows. Grant mentioned that he did not get paid to do the UBATV show, but believes that Internet broadcasting is the future.
Beginning in September 2009, Grant reduced Straight Ahead! from five days a week down to two (Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 to 11 a.m. Eastern time). Grant also moved the show from his home to a professional studio. Due to a low number of callers to the show, Grant usually interviewed only guests for the hour. On January 13, 2010, Grant did his last UBATV show. Grant's last UBATV show and his last WOR show both fell on the date of January 13.
On September 13, 2009, Grant returned to WABC for a third stint at the station, doing a weekly Sunday talk show from noon to 2 p.m. Grant's return to AM broadcasting allowed him to continue interacting with his fan base through greater listenership and participation than his previous internet radio show provided. At the close of his first show, he expressly thanked the management of the station for "inviting him back" and said he looked forward to continuing this joint venture every week for the foreseeable future. Grant issued a statement in October 2012 that his October 7 broadcast would be his last, but then rescinded that message after the show, labeling it a "mistake" and an attempt to grab attention. He then took off a short time for medical work, and when he returned to the air, it was for a shortened 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday show. Grant's show continued in its one-hour weekly format until July 28, 2013, when he permanently retired due to declining health.
Grant also prepared weekly columns for his website, BobGrantOnline.com. The site was originally sponsored by NewsMax. The editorials ended February 19, 2013, again due to health problems.
Fill-in hosts
Grant was in favor of engaging hosts substituting for him while he was away on vacation to maintain his ratings. In the cases of G. Gordon Liddy and Curtis Sliwa who guest hosted along with his wife Lisa Evers, this led to them being hired for their own shows. Other popular fill-ins included Bill O'Reilly during the 1990s, Roger Ailes, Alan Burke, Joe Scarborough, Tom Marr, Ann Coulter in 2002, Tom Snyder in 2002, Mike Gallagher, Barry Farber, and comedians Jackie Mason and Pat Cooper in the early 1990s, and Commissioner Myrtle Whitmore.
Influences and legacy
In 2002, industry magazine Talkers ranked Grant as the 16th greatest radio talk show host of all time.
On March 28, 2007, Bob Grant was nominated for induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Grant was ultimately not inducted into the Hall in his lifetime; he would be inducted under the Hall's Legends category for posthumous inductees in 2023.
Death
A resident of the New Jersey communities of Woodbridge Township, Manalapan Township and Toms River, Grant died in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey on December 31, 2013, after what was described as a "short illness".
