Billy Boy thought it was pretty funny, too.
Posted on 12/14/2005 7:53:50 AM PST by Revenge of Sith
LEGENDARY talk-radio titan Bob Grant is leaving WOR next month by what is said to be a "mutual agreement," The Post has learned. In a move sure to shock fans who made him New York's top-rated afternoon gabber for decades, Grant will do his last show of the year today, then take three weeks vacation and return for a final seven shows beginning Jan. 5. The station had planned to announce his departure after his vacation. WOR (710 AM) will replace Grant with chef Rocco DiSpirito, who was the central figure in NBC's star-crossed reality show, "The Restaurant," and who currently does "Food Talk" in the late morning. The move appears to be more about money than ratings. Grant has WOR's highest share of daytime audience, and DiSpirito nearly the lowest, but food shows — like the other specialty shows WOR carries — fetch premium rates from sponsors who target specialized, if smaller, audiences. "It's been a great almost-10 years, and I've really enjoyed it," Grant, 76, told The Post, indicating that retirement is an option. "I've been doing the 'Bob Grant Show' since 1963, and since 1970 in New York," he said. "Who knows. Maybe I'll write a book. Maybe I'll move to Florida. "Maybe somebody will make me an offer I can't refuse." The feisty and controversial Grant, who was mentored by rowdy-talk pioneer Joe Pyne at L.A.'s KABC, has been heard on all of New York's big talk stations — WMCA (twice), WOR (twice) and WABC, where he was fired in 1996 soon after making light of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown's death in a plane crash. DiSpirito and WOR execs declined comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
A food show?
Billy Boy thought it was pretty funny, too.
Wonder if Grant's health is ok?
Also, "It's sick and getting sicker out there!"
He's one of the most literate and articulate of the talk show hosts; I'll miss him.
And who can forget how years ago the great Bob Grant used to sign off his show every day with his signature...GET KHADAFFI...GET HIM NOW!
Another (unfortunately accurate) Grant line from years ago:
"We're slipping and sliding to Third Worldism"
I am partial to "get off my phoooone", or "you fake, foney, fraud".
"And who can forget how years ago the great Bob Grant used to sign off his show every day with his signature...GET KHADAFFI...GET HIM NOW!"
Lol, yeah...
Grant spoke out against the involuntary demographic transformation of this country through massive third-world immigration for many years. He and others who have labored in the trenches for so long deserve credit for finally getting
immigration control on the national agenda.
I recently stumbled across his show.
I really enjoy it.
He's funny and he tells the truth.
It's sick out there and getting sicker.
How about:
"He's served notice on society that he's no longer fit to walk among us"
Eg: Tookie Williams
Yeah, WOR has a ton of unlistenable programs. Food, advice, etc.
If Rocco runs his show the way he ran his restaurant it won't last long. I was a great fan of the reality show based on his self-propelled crack-up. It was fascinating to watch this totally self-created and well deserved disaster in the making.
IMHO, WABC fired Bob Grant not because of what he said about Brown, but to make room for the young hipster, Sean Hannity. WABC just couldn't go to Grant and say, "You're fired because we want a younger guy," because that would have run afoul of Federal and State anti-descrimination laws. For those who never heard Bob Grant, he was a pioneer not only for conservative talk radio, but for all talk radio.
Anything funnier than a food show in drive time!!!!!
Guess they just couldn't put up with the conservative point of view any longer.
Bob Grant was the first talk show host to speak the truth about liberals.
Sad to see. I'll have to record the last week for posterity!
I always liked how most of his callers consistently called him 'Mr. Grant.' :-) That's RESPECT!
"Mario,...."
Grant was the first and still does a great show.
He was stabbed in the back by Christie Whitman when he got into politically correct trouble at his station.
This after he gave her total support when she ran for office.
When WABC gets unlistenable, I still turn to Grant for some good broadcasting.
GRANT: "I gotta get out of here..."
Another of his famous lines which I can't write properly since it was Italian but he used to say it anytime somebody mentioned Gov Coumo's name and I think it helped in Mario's defeat. The english version is roughly...Mario, listen to me you're nothing but a scum bag or some such.
Replacing him with a food show like this sounds like the ultimate low-budget move on the part of WOR, though. Is Jay Diamond (one of the most talented radio personalities I've ever heard on the air) lurking in the wings here?
He's a racist old bastard. I won't miss him one bit.
I guess we're stuck with Hannity... :^)
Bob Grant's show is one of the few shows that actually has entertaining regular callers. "Jimmy from Brooklyn" (the rabid anti-communist) and "Eugene from Albany" (the raving Jew-hater) are among my faves.
:^D
Bob Grant came to be like that crusty old great-uncle who spoke his mind freely, and got dirty looks every now and then at a family reunion... but everyone did like because they at least knew where they stood.
...except he's also a professional and knows what could get you canned.
But Grant was not a racist, and anyone who listened to him knew that. Liberals know angry, free-speaking, old men don't have to be racists to say the things that a young man would have to be a racist to say... certain words mean things now that they didn't necessarily mean in 1940. And when Grant was angrily chewing some idiot out, they literally can't believe he never says things which they can use to call him a racist, but he doesn't.
That Grant is such a pioneer is not merely because of what he was first at. He was "unprofessional" in the sense that he was didn't talk like a Roger Mudd or Peter Jennings; he talked like a guy sitting on a front porch on a hot day
"Flim-flam Florio is a fake, phony, fraud . . . and while we're at it -- HE'S A LYING BASTARD, TOO!"
sfacheme?
His diatribe in the aftermath of one of those Florida highway shootings (involving tourists from Europe) was a classic:
"Did you see the picture of those two quasi-humanoid mutants they arrested down there, Mr. Grant? That's 450 pounds of food stamps for ya!"
That's it . . . and another one (I'll spell it out phonetically) is "cacazote" -- which I think is Italian for "feces."
What is the name of the guy from Brooklyn (or is it Queens) who used to call in every couple of days and give a masterful conservative commentary on the issues of the day?
GRANT TO IDIOT CALLER: "Why don't you go gargle with some razor blades!!! GET OFF MY PHONE!!!"
See #29. And it wasn't "every couple of days" . . . because Frank from Queens was a steadfast observer of Grant's "once per week" rule for his callers.
It was something like "Mario, azenda me, tus a provonost sfacheme!"
Sean wasn't hired by WABC until about six months later and the station initially put him in late nights and kept him there for over a year. It wasn't until January 1998, almost two years after Bob was fired, that Sean was given Bob's old time slot and this was only because Bob's show on WOR consistently beat WABC in PM drive ratings.
During the period Sean was on late at night, he would occasionally get callers who would say, "Bring back Bob Grant, Jay Diamond and Lynn Samuels," and Sean would respond that he agrees with the caller and that he's not afraid to say that WABC was wrong to fire these hosts, especially Bob, whose firing Sean called a mistake.
Wasn't there another caller I believe "George the Atheist" that used to get under Grant's skin sometimes?
Always got a kick out of that guy who used to sneak in and would end up commenting on Bob's toupe.
Man he used to get pissed!
Literally translated, I think it means: "Mario, listen to me -- you are a retart." (I think sfaccim is Italian for 'bad genes' or something like that)
ML/NJ
It was "every couple of days" for me because I wasn't able to listen to Bob every day. While Sean's "Marty" is cute and cuddly and deserves our respect for his service to our Country, Frank from Queens was an institution in himself and deserves recoginition at the talk radio hall of fame.
Absolutely the WORST HOST of all time!!!! This was like listening to balloons or Styrofoam squeaking together...
I noticed that myself.
I don't think talk radio will ever see that kind of dominance again.
Thanks for trying to refresh my recollection. Who actually had the evening drive-by spot then, after WABC fired Bob? My mind is playing tricks on me because I recall -- apprently incorrectly -- that Sean took Bob's seat when it was still warm.
{Shudder}
It wasn't all that great, though. The passionate, scathing commentary he crammed into a two-minute phone call is impossible to carry through a two-hour radio show.
Jay Diamond took over for a while, and I think he was cut loose in a contract dispute.
I think Jay's contract dispute began in March before Bob was fired and Disney wanted to get rid of both of them at the same time.
I have dreaded this announcement for years. He is such a great alternative to Hannity. And funny. Sometimes I'd have to stop the car because I'd be laughing so hard. Calling some blowhard caller "you pusillanimous pipsqueak!"
I forgot about Jay Diamond. Did Steve Malzberg also fill that slot for awhile?
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