Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Congressional caucuses Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other Robert Ciro Gigante (March 14, 1929 – December 31, 2013), known as Bob Grant, was an American radio host.

[14] The Los Angeles Times stated, "Their names are Paul Condylis and Bob Grant, voted by this corner as the outstanding newcomers of 1959.

Prime Examples Condylis and Grant, a couple of dialecticians from Chicago, specialize in a form of comedy that is most popular today satire.

His offbeat, but combative style (along with Fairness Doctrine requirements of the era) won him seven years on WMCA, with a growing and loyal audience.

Grant decided to take women who listened to him on a trip to a Times Square porno theater to view a porn film.

One of Grant's most memorable regular callers was Ms. Trivia, who aired her "Beef of the Week", a series of seemingly trivial complaints.

Instead, a statuesque and fashionable Ms. Trivia, wearing an elaborate Victorian costume, was the surprise guest seated next to Grant at the dais table along with several political figures from New York.

Not only did that turn off Roger Ailes, but WOR was forced to fire me even though I had given the radio giant the biggest overnight ratings they ever had.

On September 15, 1991, a roast honoring Grant for twenty one years of radio in New York City was held in West Orange, New Jersey.

Grant introduced President George H. W. Bush to a crowd at Vets Field in Ridgewood, New Jersey while he campaigned for reelection on October 22, 1992.

[60] Grant's long stay at WABC ended when he was fired for a remark about the April 3, 1996, airplane crash involving Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.

When Brown was found dead, Grant's comments were widely criticized, and several weeks later, after a media campaign, his contract was terminated.

He was fired the next day on April 17 by program director Phil Boyce after Grant had held an autograph-signing session for his book "Let's be Heard".

Grant's ratings were not to blame for his departure, according to the New York Post, which mentioned that the decision was reached because the station's other shows had niche audiences to garner more advertising dollars.

Having left his options open for "an offer he cannot refuse," Grant returned to WOR in February 2006, doing one minute "Straight Ahead" commentaries which aired twice daily after news broadcasts until September 2006.

Then, on August 22, while appearing on Hannity's show, he announced that he was returning as a regular host to WABC, in the 8–10 p.m. slot that at the time was filled by Agar.

[66] Grant did his most recent AM radio work as guest host filling in for Michael Savage on January 21, 2009, Mark Levin on March 23, 2009, and Sean Hannity on July 31, 2009.

[citation needed] New York radio personalities Richard Bey and Jay Diamond were also brought on board to broadcast their own one-hour shows.

At the close of his first show, he expressly thanked the management of the station for "inviting him back" and said he looked forward to continuing this joint venture every week for the foreseeable future.

Grant's show continued in its one-hour weekly format until July 28, 2013, when he permanently retired due to declining health.

"[70] In a May 1993 broadcast, Grant referred to civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. as "that slimeball" and as "this bum, this womanizer, this liar, this fake, this phony.

As evidence, they highlighted his repeated use of the word "savages" when referring to African-Americans and statements such as "minorities are the Big Apple's majority, you don't need the papers to tell you that, walk around and you know it.

[72] They highlighted his description of Haitian refugees as "swine" and "sub-human infiltrators" who multiply "like maggots on a hot day" and his comment that "Ideally, it would have been nice to have a few phalanxes of policemen with machine guns and mow [gay pride paraders] down".

In the cases of G. Gordon Liddy[76] and Curtis Sliwa[77] who guest hosted along with his wife Lisa Evers, this led to them being hired for their own shows.

Other popular fill-ins included Bill O'Reilly during the 1990s, Roger Ailes, Alan Burke, Joe Scarborough, Tom Marr, Ann Coulter in 2002, Tom Snyder in 2002,[78] Mike Gallagher, Barry Farber, and comedians Jackie Mason and Pat Cooper in the early 1990s, and Commissioner Myrtle Whitmore.

[79] Being largely the innovator of his own particular talk radio style, Grant previously worked with the likes of Barry Gray and Joe Pyne.

Over the years, national radio talk personality Howard Stern has made differing remarks on his admiration for Grant as an early influence.

[87] Radio & Records had planned to issue a Lifetime Achievement Award to Grant during its annual convention in March 2008; however, the nomination was revoked in January 2008 for "past comments by him that contradict our values and the respect we have for all members of our community.

I don't call for boycotts, but I do think it would be wonderful to see talk show hosts refuse to appear at this convention ... What we have seen here in this revocation of the award to Bob Grant is simple pandering to political correctness.

Marc Fisher, Senior Editor at The Washington Post, wrote tribute to Grant on his Facebook page, saying that his "most creative and influential period" was from the 1960s "when he captured and reflected the rage of New Yorkers seeing their city change around them, to the 70s, when he almost singlehandedly kept Libya's Qaddafi on the U.S. political radar and became one of New York's most popular figures."