Bob Grant (radio)

Infobox actor
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name = Bob Grant


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birthname = Robert Ciro Gigante
birthdate = birth date and age|1929|03|14
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Bob Grant, the on-air name for Robert Ciro Gigante (born March 14, 1929), is an American radio host currently conducting a nightly two hour show on New York radio station WABC. A veteran of broadcasting in New York City, Grant is considered a pioneer of the "angry" or "confrontational" talk radio format. [ [http://www.talkers.com/greatest/16rGrant.htm Talkers Magazine Online ] ] [ [http://www.radiohof.org/2004_nominees.html National Radio Hall of Fame & Museum ] ]

Career

Early work

Bob Grant graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism. He began working in radio in the 1940s at the news department at WBBM in Chicago, as a radio personality and television talk show host at KNX in Los Angeles, and as an actor. He later became sports director at KABC in Los Angeles, where after some substitute appearances he inherited the talk show of early controversialist Joe Pyne in 1964 and began to build a following.

WMCA

Grant came to New York in 1970, where he hosted a talk show on WMCA as the "house conservative", distinctively out of fashion with both the times and with some countercultural WMCA personalities, including Alex Bennett. His offbeat but combative style (along with Fairness Doctrine requirements of the era) won him seven years on WMCA, with a growing and loyal audience.

WOR and WWDB

After leaving WMCA, Grant went up the dial to New York's WOR for a time, after which he worked at WWDB in Philadelphia.

WABC

After returning to New York in 1984 to join WABC, "The Bob Grant Show" consistently dominated the ratings in the highly competitive afternoon drive time slot in New York City. The gravel-voiced Grant reminded listeners during the daily introduction that the "program was unscripted and unrehearsed".

Grant was known for on-air castigation of public officials including New York Governor Mario Cuomo. Critics charged that Grant was an inflammatory racist, claiming Grant's statements describing certain African Americans as "savages" and former New York Mayor David Dinkins as "the men's room attendant at the 21 Club" were meant to apply to all African-Americans. (This appellation was made while Grant was reading the "New York Post" on-air and saw a picture of a white-dinner-jacket-clad Dinkins at a summer soiree on the gossip-oriented Page Six; Grant was famous for sharing his immediate first impressions over the airwaves). Grant was more than once admonished by station management, typically with a bluster of controversial publicity.

Grant's political philosophy generally followed American conservatism, but with some lurches into populism, libertarianism, conspiracy theory, and unorthodoxy (such as being pro-choice and anti-Flag Desecration Amendment). As a resident of Manalapan, New Jersey in the mid-1990s, he considered running for statewide office, but eventually decided against it.

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 Carl Limbacher, "My hunch is [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 his contract was terminated. [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.politics.usa.congress/browse_frm/thread/5666fc7672b38c56/82701d96bfc8442d?lnk=st&q=%22robert+gigante%22+%22bob+grant%22&rnum=1&hl=en#82701d96bfc8442d]

Return to WOR

After being fired, Grant moved down the dial to WOR to host the same type of show in the same time slot, where he would occasionally criticize his WABC replacement Sean Hannity. After Grant joined WOR, Arthur Frommer, the travel guide publisher, who had a weekly show on the same station, quit in protest, saying, "If the object of Bob Grant's vile filth had been Jews, or Italians, or Irish-Americans, it is inconceivable that WOR would have taken this step", and also comparing Grant to Joseph Goebbels. [ [http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1343 "Won't Share Air with Bigot",] "Extra!," June 1996]

On October 10, 2003, Grant's colleague Rush Limbaugh admitted on air to being addicted to painkillers. On that same day, Grant defended Limbaugh against the media scrutiny he was facing. In the late 1990s, his show went into national syndication, but few stations picked it up and it reverted to a local show.

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. [ [http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/58722.htm] Dead link|date=August 2008]

Having left his options open for "an offer he cannot refuse," Bob Grant returned to WOR in February 2006 doing one minute "Straight Ahead" commentaries, airing twice daily after news broadcasts until September 2006. Grant then made various isolated radio appearances. He appeared as a guest host on WFNY (now WXRK) in December 2006. Grant appeared a couple of times on Sean Hannity's show on WABC. [ [http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/383571p-325604c.html Arts and Entertainment News and Reviews - NY Daily News ] ] [ [http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/carry_grant_back_to_wabc_radio_entertainment_john_mainelli.htm] Dead link|date=August 2008]

Return to WABC

His guest appearances became more frequent beginning in July 2007. On July 7 2007, he guest hosted for John R. Gambling, and appeared on Mark Levin's show (which is flagshipped 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 PM 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.

Controversial statements about race

Over the years, Grant has made a number of statements on his shows that critics have described as racist. For example, he was quoted in the "Newsday" on June 2, 1992, as saying "Minorities are the Big Apple's majority, you don't need the papers to tell you that, walk around and you know it. To me, that's a bad thing. I'm a white person." In his book, Grant defended this statement by writing that he did not intend to put down other races, but only intended to express that "no one likes to be in the minority," and that America can only survive by retaining its "humane, west European culture." Thus, he supports ending bilingualism and multiculturalism, two policies of which Grant has been highly critical. According to the website for the left-leaning media watchdog organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), Grant has repeatedly advocated "eugenics" by promoting the "Bob Grant Mandatory Sterilization Program," which he describes as temporary sterilizations for women of childbearing age who wish to receive welfare payments. Grant's controversial statements about "welfare mothers" are often called racist. FAIR also quotes Grant as saying, on January 6 1992, that the U.S. has "millions of sub-humanoids, savages, who really would feel more at home careening along the sands of the Kalahari or the dry deserts of eastern Kenya — people who, for whatever reason, have not become civilized." Grant has repeatedly come under attack for calling blacks "savages," but claims that he is only referring to rioters. FAIR claims that a reference to black churchgoers as "screaming savages" refutes his defense, but Grant has explained that that comment was in reference to the congregation of a black church in Los Angeles in which the reverend was promoting violence in the midst of the riots over the beating of Rodney King by police officers. Grant has professed admiration for several black Americans, including Thomas Sowell, Colin Powell, and Muhammad Ali, even as he publicly complained that Magic Johnson's HIV hadn't yet turned into AIDS.

Characteristics of Grant's radio shows

Grant was known for using a number of catchphrases on his show, such as "You're a fake, a phony, and a fraud!", "Straight ahead", "Get off my phone!", "Anything and everything is grist for our ever-grinding mill", and his closing line, "Your influence counts ... "use it!" His opening line was used as the title of his 1996 book, "Let's Be Heard", a title representing an abbreviated version of his original opener, "And let's be heard! Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to another hour of the free and open exchange of ideas and opinions in the belief that as American citizens you have the right to hear, and to be heard." Before his daily monologue, Grant would ask the rhetorical question, "And what's on your mind today, hmmm?", and would sometimes call women "chickie-poos". During his WMCA years, Grant often ended his show with a blustery "Get Kadafi." On the WOR show, Grant often closed his show with the phrase, "Someone's got to say these things, it "has" to be me!"

Grant was known for assigning derogatory names to public officials he disliked. They included:
*Jim Florio ("Flim-Flam")
*Frank Lautenberg ("Lousenberg")
*Elizabeth Holzmann ("Hatchet-Face, the Face-That-Could-Stop-a-Runaway-Train")
*Jimmy Carter ("I'll-Never-Lie-To-You")
*David Dinkins ("The men's room attendant-at-the-21-Club")
*Ted Kennedy ("The Swimmer"),
*Al Sharpton ("Sharpie")
*Jesse Jackson ("Jesse Jerkson" or "Jessie Jackal")
*Mario Cuomo ("Il Supremo" or "The Sfachim")
*Bill Clinton ("The Great Stainmaker")

During the infamous Tawana Brawley rape case, Grant referred to Brawley's advisors Alton Maddox, C. Vernon Mason, and Al Sharpton as "Moe, Larry, and Fatso." As an Italian American, Grant also used several Italian quasi-obscene phrases for those he disliked, such as calling Mario Cuomo "the Sfachim" or "il Supremo". During the 1988 presidential campaign, he referred to Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis as "Du-cagasotto" (an Italian obscenity meaning a fearful or timid person).

About society, he would remark "It's sick out there, and getting sicker" or "We are sliding down a slippery slope, and there's no climbing back up." Callers he disliked were not spared either, as Grant would sometimes invite them to his studio, remarking, "...so I could punch your dumb nose right down your dumb throat!" He would dryly suggest to others, "Why don't you go gargle with a cup of razor blades?"

A typical exchange with a caller:

Grant: "Where are you from, Pal?"
Caller:"Brooklyn, Bob"
Grant: "No, I mean before you came to my country. Where were you born?"
Caller:"I was born here in Brooklyn, Bob."
Grant: "Yeah, right, get off my phone, you creep!"

Also:

Grant: "Say, do you know what time it is?"
Caller: "It's about 3:30."
Grant: "I just wanted to make sure you were going to have enough time to go downtown to pick up your welfare check. Get off my phone!"

One of Grant's most memorable regular call-in guests was Ms. Trivia, who aired her "Beef of the Week", a series of seemingly trivial complaints, such as her objection to stale gum in baseball card packets, the exaltation of the lowly mouse in popular cartoon culture (Micky Mouse, Mighty Mouse) at the expense of portraying felines in a discriminatory manner (Felix, the trickster, Sylvester, the loser cat with a lisp, etc.) She later insisted that she be called "Mm. Trivia" in support of doing away with titles that differentiated men from women (such as Miss, Ms. or Mister). Grant referred to Mm. Trivia as the most popular personage on WMCA radio who wasn't even on the payroll. Ms. Trivia was Grant's guest at a Halloween Festival dinner held at Lauritano's Restaurant in the Bronx, where a young Ms. Trivia, not long out of her teens, revealed herself for the first time to a startled radio audience, many who had expected and assumed, based upon her articulation and intonation, that she would be an elderly, prudish woman. Instead, a statuesque and fashionable Ms. Trivia, wearing an elaborate Victorian costume, was the surprise guest seated next to Grant at the dias table along with several political figures from New York. The following day the majority of calls to the show were for the purpose of obtaining information about the mysterious Mm. Trivia, with Grant in his typical manner finally in exasperation hanging up on the callers, shouting, "THIS IS NOT Mm. TRIVIA'S SHOW!"

Grant occasionally made on-air reference to an ethereal Beatrice-like presence à la Dante's Paradiso section in "The Divine Comedy", "The Lady Josephine", to whom he constantly paid obeisance. His son, Jeff Grant, a traffic reporter with a different station, would call in occasionally. Grant made frequent references to the REO Diner in Woodbridge, New Jersey, his regular haunt.

When once asked by the caller George the Atheist whether he believed in God, Grant replied, "What if I tell you, George, that sometimes I do and sometimes I don't?" On his July 21 2005 broadcast, Grant, a baptized and raised Roman Catholic, unequivocally stated to the same caller his opinion on the Second Coming of Jesus: "He's not coming back. Look, I don't believe he's coming back. I think that's a myth and I say it. I don't trumpet it but if a person asks - and you know one thing for sure, I've been deadly honest, dead-on honest all the time I've been on the air talking to people and they ask me questions or they make a comment that elicits a response, they are going to get an honest response. It may always not be 'correct' but it's honest".

Influence and legacy

Over the years, national radio talk personality Howard Stern has often cited Grant as an early influence, although Stern has frequently criticized him for changing his act to appease management. Grant has related being at a public appearance by Ben Stern, his teenage son Howard in tow. Ben told Grant of Stern's desire to go into radio. "I looked at this big, gawky kid and I said to him, 'Just be yourself,'" Grant recalled. Soon after Grant's firing from WABC, and before his first WOR show, Grant was a guest caller on Stern's radio show.

Glenn Beck now uses the catchphrase "Get off my phone!" as a homage to Grant, as do Tom Scharpling and Mark Levin; similarly, Sean Hannity often uses Grant's phrase "Straight ahead." Levin has also picked up Grant's tradition of creating unflattering nicknames for public officials. Rush Limbaugh has testified to Grant being one of his mentors when he first joined WABC.

In 2002, industry magazine "Talkers" ranked Grant as the 16th greatest radio talk show host of all time. [ [http://www.talkers.com/greatest/ Talkers Magazine Online ] ]

On March 28, 2007 Bob Grant was nominated for induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame. [ [http://www.museum.tv/rhofsection.php 2008 RHOF Inductees ] ]

Radio & Records had planned to issue a Lifetime Achievement Award to Grant during its annual convention in March 2008; however, the award was revoked in January 2008 for "past comments by him that contradict our values and the respect we have for all members of our community." [Rowland, Kara. [http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080117/BUSINESS/760146677/1006 Talk radio award revoked] . Washington Times. 17 January 2008.] Several talk radio hosts have spoken out against the decision; Neal Boortz has stated:

"I usually try not to miss the Radio & Records talk radio convention... Not this year. Maybe never again. R&R has succumbed to political correctness... I don't call for boycotts. But I do think it would be wonderful to see talk show hosts refuse to appear at this convention... What we have seen here in this revocation of the award to Bob Grant is simple pandering to political correctness. Nothing more, nothing less." [Boortz, Neal. [http://boortz.com/nuze/200801/01172008.html Nealz Nuze] . 17 January 2008.]

Brian Maloney [Maloney, Brian. [http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2008/01/publication-rescinds-lifetime.html GRANT'S AWARD YANKED] and [http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2008/01/bob-grant-award-withdrawl-leads-to.html BOIL OVER] . Radio Equalizer. 17 January 2008.] , Sean Hannity, Opie and Anthony, Jim Norton, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Lionel and Howard Stern opposed the move as well, with Levin stating "I am disgusted with the mistreatment of Bob Grant. I am fed up with the censors, intimidators, and cowards in this business." In a notable dissent, Don Imus deemed the award unimportant (confusing the award with one he earned from "Talkers magazine"), offered to return awards he had received after treating them to his sledgehammer and block of wood, and called Grant's comments stupid, although he also referred to Grant as a "legendary broadcaster." [Imus, Don. Imus in the Morning. 19 January 2008. Partial reaction [http://www.musicradio77.com/wwwboard/messages/331978.html here] .]

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References

External links

* [http://www.bobgrantonline.com Bob Grant's Web Page]
* [http://www.wabcradio.com/showdj.asp?DJID=39402 WABC 770AM bio & links] - WABC Personality Page
* [http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2007/08/22/2007-08-22_bob_grant_returns_to_wabc-1.html Grant's Return to WABC] - New York Daily News article, August 22 2007
* [http://radio.about.com/library/blprofiles/blpro-bobgrant.htm Bob Grant Entry] - About.com
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20040804113643/http://www.wor710.com/Programming/bobgrant/bobgrant.html WOR 710AM bio] - archive entry from WebArchive.org
* [http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1343 FAIR page on Bob Grant] - from Fair.org
* [http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1272 FAIR archive of Grant quotes] - from Fair.org
* [http://groups.myspace.com/bobgrant Bob Grant Group on myspace] myspace.com
* [http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_011808/content/01125112.guest.html Bob Grant Talk Radio Legend] - from RushLimbaugh.com
* [http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080427/ENT/804270313/1031/ent Radio's Royalty] - from Ashbury Park Press