Bob Grant dead; conservative NYC talk radio legend was 84

Bob Grant, the fiery, gravel-voiced avatar of conservative talk radio in New York and whose influence stretched wide and deep in television, has died. WABC Radio -- where he worked, and famously was fired from -- has announced his death, while other sites are now confirming.

In addition, Ron Kuby and Curtis Sliwa -- about as opposite a pair to Grant as could be imagined -- have been eulogizing Grant on air for the past half-hour or so. (Yes, the world of talk radio changes -- Kuby and Sliwa are back, as of today). Grant, who was 84, reportedly died Dec. 31.

He had been in ill health for months. Here's his prepared obit.

Grant's influence in New York was vast: Over 40 years, he used the mic as a battering ram -- in particular, battering his favored targets, namely successive Democratic and liberal NYC administrations from John Lindsay through to David Dinkins. He was accused, often, of being racist, and had made an infamous remark about former Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown that got him ousted from WABC in 1996. (Brown had been killed in a plane crash but, before confirmation of his death, Grant said that, being a "pessimist" by nature, he assured listeners that there would be one survivor -- Brown.) As his AP obit reminds, he once referred to Martin Luther King Jr. as "that slimeball." He said much else, some of it appalling - referring to Dinkins as a "bathroom attendant" and so on. When Disney - sensitive naturally to its public image and under close political scrutiny as it was about to swallow ABC owner Capital Cities - fired him, his critics provided the company with a laundry list of quotes to support its action. Grant nonetheless was shocked (see below.) 

Grant fulminated -- a word he would likely never use -- and fulminated with great gusto. His voice had a deep raspy tone, like a truck rolling over a bed of crushed rock. He was beloved by generations of New York radio listeners, despised by just as many others. A huge supporter of Israel, he was also a frequent speaker at various venues around Long Island.

Some accused him of being match to tinder in many bitter years of racial tension in New York but Kuby, obviously no Grant acolyte he, said on the air a little while ago this: "I recognize that Bob was a very controversial figure [but] I don't think he was a racist. I really don't. I think he did say a lot of things over a time that were used in a .?.?. racist way and promoted some overall ugliness in this city -- that's part of his legacy as well -- but he was [also] an incredible pioneer in creating this medium that all of us have profited from. Personally, I'll miss the guy."

Yes, everyone who has lived in or around New York or over the past four decades has a Bob Grant story, memory or impression. (He interviewed me once or twice -- my recollection was that he called me "Verne Gray" on the air -- though that could have been another famous talker.) He was gracious and funny -- that was also an impression.

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He was part of that early breed of talkers who impacted Fox News so profoundly. Sean Hannity, who moved to WOR Thursday (yes, of course he's still on FNC at night), owes him a debt of allegiance. It was a brand of talk that appealed to the lunch pail crowd, guys, and they mostly were guys, who were sick-and-tired-of-the-liberal-pantywaists-who-were-ruining-America. Grant gave them voice, or at least vented their rage. It was a formula (though Grant was not someone who exactly had a "formula" -- he just was who he was) that was applied to at least a very specific part of a major TV news network: Fox.
John Mainelli, who was WABC program director from 1988 to 1995, says that Grant was "pigeonholed" by some but that while he was certainly conservative, his views were not always doctrinaire. "He was pro-gun control, pro-choice, pro relaxing marijuana laws and most importantly while he was obsessed with politics, he didn't talk about politics all the time."

There were counter-intuitive aspects about him as well, says Mainelli - or they would appear so to his listeners had they known at the time. He was friendly with Al Sharpton - "he had Al Sharpton on all the time; they were buds at one time.' And he chaffed at success of fellow WABC host Rush Limbaugh: "He did not care for Rush," says Mainelli. "He called him 'Hurry.'"

Of the racism charges Mainelli says they were unfair: "He was very outspoken during Crown Heights and Tawana Brawley and indelicate, you could say. But no, and if anyone assumed too much about that, he set 'em straight."

Paul Colford, now a top executive at The Associated Press who once covered radio brilliantly for Newsday, spoke to Grant after he got canned all those years ago. Worth a read: