Bob Grant (radio host)
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.[1][2][3] Grant's career spanned from the 1950s until shortly before his death at age 84 on December 31, 2013.[4][5]
Bob Grant
December 31, 2013 (aged 84)
Radio personality
1940s–2013
Grant was widely termed a political conservative, and personally considered himself to be a conservative with some libertarian leanings.
Career[edit]
Early work[edit]
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.[6] After high school, Grant attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and studied journalism,[7] where he also auditioned and got accepted for the school's radio station.[6] As a student, Grant acted in plays, such as "the Duchess of Malfi".[6] Grant left school early to take a job in radio.[7] 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.[8] On May 14, 1948, Grant did his first professional news announcement, to discuss the formation of Israel.[9] He then got a job at the news department at WBBM (AM) in Chicago and also continued acting in plays.[6] 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.[10][11] While at WBBM, he was forced to change his last name from "Gigante" to "Grant" in order to sound less ethnic.[7] During the Korean War, he served in the Naval Reserve.[12]
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.[13] 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."[14] Grant described the show as being similar to "Saturday Night Live" on the radio.[8] Condylis and Grant would also entertain at places, such as college campuses.[15][16] 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.[17] Grant hosted three shows on KABC (AM) in 1964 titled, "Open Line," "Night Line," and "Sunday Line."[18] While at KABC Grant would interview celebrities including Muhammad Ali,[8] controversial figures such as Kwanzaa founder Ron "Maulana" Karenga, and politicians including Ronald Reagan in what Grant claimed was Reagan's first interview as a political candidate in 1965.[19] While Grant would become a controversial radio figure, he started off more mellow. He competed during nighttime radio against his former co-worker and mentor Joe Pyne and radio commentator Michael Jackson. An October 25, 1964 Los Angeles Times article describes Grant's broadcasting style:
Characteristics of Grant's radio shows[edit]
Socio-political views[edit]
Grant was widely considered a political conservative. In later life, he commented that "I certainly had many beliefs you'd call conservative, but on some social issues, like abortion or gay marriage, I was more what you'd call libertarian."[69]
In a May 1993 broadcast, Grant referred to civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. as "that slimeball" and as "this bum, this womanizer, this liar, this fake, this phony."[70]
In 1995, the progressive media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting accused Grant of racism and homophobia. As evidence, they highlighted his repeated use of the word "savages" when referring to African-Americans and statements such as "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".[71] They highlighted his description of Haitian refugees as "swine" and "sub-human infiltrators" who multiply "like maggots on a hot day" and his comment that "Ideally, it would have been nice to have a few phalanxes of policemen with machine guns and mow [gay pride paraders] down".[71]
Grant was highly critical of U.S. President Barack Obama, asserting his view that Obama "truly believes in socialism ... which has the same effect as communism."[72] Grant distinguished himself from other conservative talk show hosts by calling for Obama to release his long form birth certificate, prior to Obama releasing it.[73] He described the Tea Party movement as continuing "the finest tradition of Americanism".[72]
Although Grant was generally known as being a conservative, he was a critic of hard-line conservative advocates in primary races, including the Tea Party movement's candidates. This was a frequent debate topic between Grant and his callers over his last few years. During the fall election of 2010, Grant criticized candidates, such as Christine O'Donnell, Rand Paul, and Sharron Angle. Grant endorsed Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio on a July 10, 2010, broadcast for the Florida senate primary. On a May 8, 2011, broadcast, Grant informed his audience that he supported the moderate Jon Huntsman Jr. for the Republican nomination for president, although he would later go on to support Mitt Romney.[74]
Fill-in hosts[edit]
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[75] and Curtis Sliwa[76] 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,[77] Mike Gallagher, Barry Farber, and comedians Jackie Mason and Pat Cooper in the early 1990s. Commissioner Myrtle Whitmore.[78]