Bob Grant Dead At Age 84

1-2-13

Bob Grant is being called the father of conservative talk radio, a radio pioneer, and a racist in the coverage of his death. Certainly he was successful and controversial in the number-one market in America. The radio industry learned yesterday that Grant had died on Tuesday. Grant moved to New York in 1970 to host a talk show on WMCA-AM, where he spent seven years steadily building his audience. Leaving WMCA in 1977, Grant worked his first stint at WOR, and later moved to WWDB in Philadelphia before returning to New York as the cornerstone of WABC's new Talk format in 1984. He remained at WABC until his much-publicized firing in 1996. Ten days later, he was hired by WOR.

Mike Thompson is now the program director at ESPN L.A. Thompson was one of Grant's producers at WMCA and a colleagues at WABC. He tells Radio Ink much will be written about Grant's career. "My hope is that people will remember Bob not as a 'conservative talk show host' as the present genre of 'no hope' radio is perceived. Bob made people think and laugh. He wanted everyone to listen, no matter their affiliation. He was an entertainer whose cynical and sometimes bitter outlook on life made the show about HIM ? not about anything going on externally.   Many people that  listened to him didn?t agree with anything he said ? but they did learn and LAUGH. He never was predictable about positions ?  for those who worked with him and those who listened ? he was one of a kind.  I am sure others will agree with me it was the best part of their career to have worked with Bob Grant."

Grant graduated from the University of Illinois and landed his first radio job at WAOK in Oak Park, Illinois. He moved on to WBBM in 1949 in Chicago as a newsman, and as an actor in the early days of television. Ten years later, Bob moved to Los Angeles to work at KNX as a radio personality and television talk show host. In 1962, Bob was hired by KABC as sports director where he met the legendary Joe Pine, who pioneered controversial talk on radio. After substituting for Pine on several occasions, Grant was chosen to take over The Joe Pine Show at KABC in 1964. For Bob Grant and his loyal listeners, the rest would be history.

More coverage on the death of Bob Grant from Long Island Newsday, NJ.com, The Wrap.

(1/2/2014 7:12:44 PM)
Bob Grant was fine company in our small business offices during the afternoon, and the ever welcome dinner guest on the radio.

Auperb host. Astute reporter. Kind friend. Wonderful mentor. Thank you, Bob.

Paul Vincent Zecchino
Mil-Spec Communications
Manasota Key, Florida

(1/2/2014 2:23:02 PM)
Great man, RIP.

ML/NJ (aka "Mike from North Caldwell)

(1/2/2014 2:09:22 PM)
I LEARNED POLITICS DRIVING EVERY DAY HOME FROM LONG ISLAND FROM GRANT. AT TIMES HE WAS SIMPLY HYSTERICAL. MY FAVORITE BOB GRANT LINE WAS... HEY YOU JERK...HERE COMES THE GARBAGE TRUCK...JUMP IN!
HE WAS AN ORIGINAL. AND I THANK HIM FOR TEACHING ME ABOUT DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS, CONSERVATIVS AND LIBERALS. REST IN PEACE,AND THANK YOU
(1/2/2014 1:54:54 PM)
Bob Grant was the greatest talk show host of all time on New York City radio...rest in peace Mr. Grant from a long-time listener!!!
(1/2/2014 1:49:59 PM)
A true patriot, very few left with us.

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Exit Randy Michaels

1-3-14

With the pending sale of the remaining Merlin stations in Chicago, it appears Randy Michaels will once again be out of radio. In the Summer of 2011 Michaels launched what he was hoping would be a new spoken word format that would sweep the nation, aimed at women. With financial backing from GTCR, Michaels and Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan struck a deal and Merlin was launched with signals in New York City and Philadelphia.  Money was no object and a lot of out-of-work and respected news people were brought in hoping to part of something big, new and exciting.

CBS' news outlets were the target. In an October 2011 Radio Ink Magazine Cover story Michaels said, "When you look at WBBM or WCBS, the audience is incredibly old. My gosh, if you took the bears out of 'BBM, they don't have many people under 60." In January of 20132, CBS even went so far as to send a cease and desist order to Michaels for using the phrases "All News, All The Time" and "We'll Give You The World." Michaels eventually stopped using the phrases but added, "This advertising does not infringe or mislead consumers; rather it accurately compares Merlin Media's services to those offered by CBS. Merlin does not want to be perceived as CBS and 1010 WINS in any respect." In an ironic turn of events, Merlin would wind up selling that New York frequency to CBS, which is now the FM home to WFAN.

The spoken word format, aimed at women, never really caught on with listeners or in the ratings and would morph and change over time. It was never a serious threat to any of CBS' powerhouse news outlets. Eventually it was dropped as investors began to question what they had gotten into. People with high hopes were gone, like veteran Chicago newsman Charlie Meyerson. Of the original attempt to target women, Meyerson says, "The consensus among many of us was that the first attempts to target women sounded condescending. I don't think they intended it to be condescending, but they sounded condescending. Yet I know many listeners that liked that iteration of the station."

Michaels made the announcement in July of 2012 that his news experiment was over. ?Effective immediately, Alternative is back on the air in New York as New Rock 101.9 and Adult Hits are on the air in Chicago as i101. It was a difficult decision to make, but after a year of minimal audience engagement, coupled with the format?s inherent expense, I felt it was time to make a change. I?d like to thank the people who poured their heart and soul into the effort and I wish them all the best.?

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Curtis and Kuby Reunite on WABC

1-2-13

The New York Times lays out the New York City talk battle about to take place between Cumulus and Clear Channel. It includes the return of Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby from noon to 3 p.m., after an absence of more than six years. Also, starting Monday, a new one-hour program (5 p.m. - 6 p.m.) will launch on WABC with Pat Kiernan, a NY1 television anchor. Imus will still anchor mornings on WABC and Geraldo shifts his focus from national syndication to New York only. Here is the full New York Times piece

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Radionomy to Buy Winamp and Shoutcast

1-2-13

That's according to TechCrunch. The AOL music services Winamp and Shoutcast originally planned to shut down but that was put on hold pending a sale. TechCrunch says the deal could be finalized by tomorrow. Radionomy has about 6,000 stations in its catalog focusing on a do-it-yourself platform. Shoutcast has about 50,000 radio stations in its catalogue. Winamp is a media buying platform.

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Pittman Makes 2014 People to Watch List

1-2-13

Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman is one of ten people Advertising Age is keeping a close eye on in this year. The reason, according to the magazine, "The CEO has an all-star team in place, but will it be enough to overcome its debt burden -- and the challenges radio faces in a digital world?" Take a look at the entire Ad Age List HERE

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KXL-FM Makes Brand Fail List

1-2-13

The list of 25 biggest brand fails of 2013 is put together by AdWeek magazine. Alpha's Portland talker KXL-FM makes the list for its "We love you long time" billboard pictured here. It was placed in Chinatown. After complaints that it played on racist stereotypes about Asian women the billboard was changed to say, "Stay connected, my friends."

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Another Rock Station Bites The Dust

12-31-13

The aging rock format took another lethal body blow over the holidays. This one in Houston. The 20-year rocker owned by Clear Channel turned into "93-7 The Beat." The format will be Hip Hop and R&B and will include music from Kanye West, Drake, Chris Brown, J.Cole, Jay-Z,  Rihanna and Beyonce. Just last month legendary 40-year Long Island rocker WRCN was flipped to all news by JVC Broadcasting."

Clear Channel Market Manager Eddie Martiny said, "93-7 The Beat is ready to write a new chapter in Houston radio history. We?re defining real hip hop and R&B. Many of the biggest stars in this format live in Houston, so to move the station in this direction was a natural choice. In addition, The Beat format will perfectly complement the five other radio stations in our cluster by making us more attractive and diverse to our advertising community."

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