Veteran radio host Bob Grant booted from nightly show on WABC

NY DAILY NEWS ^ | November 25th 2008 | DAVID HINCKLEY

[neverdem]

It's another bad week for veteran New York radio personalities, as Bob Grant has lost his nightly show at WABC (again) and WBLS reportedly has terminated evening host Vaughn Harper and overnight host Champaine.

A WABC (770 AM) spokeswoman confirmed that Grant will no longer do the 8-10 p.m. nightly show, but will do fill-in and other unspecified shifts.

That could keep Grant busy for a while, because radio stations require lots of fill-ins during the yearend holidays.

The bigger question may be whether his contract, which reportedly expires at the end of the year, will be renewed.

Grant was brought back to WABC last year by then-program director Phil Boyce, who always said he was unhappy he had to fire Grant in 1996 over the Ron Brown controversy. Boyce has now left WABC to work for the Talk Radio Network.

Grant, who turns 80 in March, has repeatedly said that "I've never had a better time on the radio" than since he came back to WABC.

Yesterday he said, "The station has a right to do what it believes is best."

WABC is shifting Laura Ingraham's syndicated show, which it carries on tape-delay, to 8-10 p.m., and picking up Curtis Sliwa's new nationally syndicated show, 10 p.m.-1 a.m.

Sliwa for the moment also continues the 10 a.m.-noon morning show, though there is speculation WABC will bring in a different host there. Some reports on the New York Radio Message Board yesterday say WABC is eying Joe Scarborough.

WBLS (107.5 FM) could not be reached yesterday concerning Harper or Champaine. But multiple reports said both were dismissed in ongoing cost-cutting measures.

The station recently axed several people on the afternoon Wendy Williams show, including Charlamagne Tha God, who has just resurfaced at Dirt Law Radio in Atlanta.

Harper came to WBLS in 1976 and was one of the creators of the ultra-successful "Quiet Storm" format. Ironically, Champaine worked with him on "The Quiet Storm" after she came to the station in 1983.

Harper's low, soothing voice became a signature of WBLS, though he almost lost it after suffering a stroke in 1993. He battled his way back, spending some time at WBGO, WWRL and WTJM before returning to WBLS.

Champaine has also become a familiar voice of New York's overnight radio through the years.

WBLS has suffered from radio's general downturn in advertising revenue and has warned that it is being hit especially hard by the new Personal People Meter (PPM) rating system, under which its reported audience dropped sharply.

Station officials have been warning this could have a drastic impact on the station – and losing Vaughn Harper and Champaine qualifies.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[newnhdad]

Bob Grant is the godfather of conservative talk. My dad would listen to him back when. It also helped that the car had an AM radio and it was one of three stations he could get that didn’t sound like a deep fryer.

[FelixFelicis]

>>Bob Grant is getting too old for radio.<<

That’s the real problem. Half the show was devoted to nostalgic admirers calling in to tell anecdotes about something Bob said on his show 20 years ago or the time they met Bob in person 30 years ago. The worst part was that Bob himself lapped it up like warm milk. Time to pack it in.

[Collier]

Steve Marlsburg is on 710 AM dial from 4PM to 6PM.

[Hawthorn]

> Steve Marlsburg is on 710 AM dial from 4PM to 6PM <

Yep, I can usually pick Steve up on the car radio here in Virginia during the winter. Sometimes I even get his signal at home when the neighbors aren’t running too many electrical motors. But as the sunsets get later and later, propagation on 710 kHz gets more and more difficult.

So in the area where I am most of the time, it’s totally impossible to get the Malzberg show during about 6 months of the year.

Now WABC in the early morning hours is a much easier and more reliable catch, year round. And Steve would be infinitely better than those creepy voices on “Coast to Coast AM.” I might not agree with Curtis on everything, but I certainly share his opinions of Noori and Bell!