Bob Grant (radio host)
| Bob Grant | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Robert Ciro Gigante March 14, 1929 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Died | December 31, 2013 (aged 84) Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, United States |
| Occupation | Radio personality |
| Years active | 1940s–2013 |
| Website | bobgrantonline |
Robert Ciro Gigante, known as Bob Grant (March 14, 1929 – December 31, 2013), 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. Grant was a controversial figure, with critics accusing him of racism and homophobia.
Grant graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in journalism. He began working in radio in the 1940s at the news department at WBBM (AM) in Chicago, as a radio personality and television talk show host at KNX (AM) in Los Angeles, and as an actor. During the Korean War, he served in the Naval Reserve. He later became sports director at KABC (AM) 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. Grant hosted three shows on KABC (AM) in 1964 titled, "Open Line," "Night Line," and "Sunday Line."
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 i.e. the subways, crime, and congestion. 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 did 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's unhappiness being in New York led to him becoming angry with the callers. He hoped to get fired by R. Peter Strauss, however his ratings soared as he got angrier. Grant was quoted on May 23, 1971 about his new radio show in New York:
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