Bob Grant (radio) - Characteristics of Grant's Radio Shows

Characteristics of Grant's Radio Shows

Grant's political philosophy generally followed American conservatism, but with some lurches into populism, libertarianism, conspiracy theory, and unorthodoxy (such as being pro-choice and anti-Flag Desecration Amendment). Grant was known for using a number of catchphrases on his show, such as "You're a fake, a phony, and a fraud!", "Straight ahead", "Get off my phone!", "Anything and everything is grist for our ever-grinding mill", and his closing line, "Your influence counts. Use it." His opening line was used as the title of his 1996 book, Let's Be Heard, a title representing an abbreviated version of his original opener, "And let's be heard! Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to another hour of the free and open exchange of ideas and opinions in the belief that as American citizens you have the right to hear, and to be heard." Before his daily monologue, Grant would ask the rhetorical question, "And what's on your mind today, hmmm?", and would sometimes call women "chickie-poos". He occasionally referred to women as "broads" and when certain undesirable, lacklustre or contentious women were combative he referenced them as "several miles of bad road". One of his favorite put-downs was to refer to someone as a "cacazote". During the 1988 presidential bid of Michael Dukakis, this term took on a natural segue as Grant often referred to him as "Dukacazote". He also referred to feckless politicians as "craven bootlickers," especially when elected officials would cave in to political pressures, and Grant accused them of "folding like a cheap camera". Due to his Italian heritage, Grant frequently used Italian slang words to describe callers or other individuals calling them gavones (crude or uncultured persons), stunads (stupid, thick, dense) or chiacchorones (persons who talk excessively). During his second stint at WOR, Grant often closed his show with the phrase, "Somebody's got to say these things, it has to be me!" As a resident of Manalapan, New Jersey in the late-1990s, he considered running for statewide office, but eventually decided against it.

Grant occasionally made on-air reference to an ethereal Beatrice-like presence à la Dante's Paradiso section in The Divine Comedy, "The Lady Josephine", to whom he constantly paid obeisance. His son, Jeff Grant, a traffic reporter with a different station, would call in occasionally. Grant made frequent references to the REO Diner in Woodbridge, New Jersey, his regular haunt.

For many years Grant closed each show with the exclamation, "Get Khadafy!" This was apparently an allusion to the practice of Roman statesman Cato the Elder ending his speeches with a call for the destruction of Carthage even if he had not been discussing Carthage in the speech.

When once asked by the caller George the Atheist whether he believed in God, Grant replied, "What if I tell you, George, that sometimes I do and sometimes I don't?" On his July 21, 2005 broadcast, Grant, a baptized and raised Roman Catholic, unequivocally stated to the same caller his opinion on the Second Coming of Jesus: "He's not coming back. Look, I don't believe he's coming back. I think that's a myth and I say it. I don't trumpet it but if a person asks — and you know one thing for sure, I've been deadly honest, dead-on honest all the time I've been on the air talking to people and they ask me questions or they make a comment that elicits a response, they are going to get an honest response. It may always not be 'correct' but it's honest." Grant has since stated that he is not an atheist.

Like many hosts in the talk radio format, Grant had his battery of usual callers that added interest to the show. John from Staten Island, Jimmy from Brooklyn, Al from Chappaqua, David from Irvington, Dorothy from Montclair, patients rights activist Eddie Carbone, and the popular Frank from Queens were some of the frequent callers. A few quasi-fictitious characters (played by Grant) were also employed during the show such as, 'Julian P. Farquar, Dexter Pogue, Rantz Greeb, Paul "needlenose" Monage, and Lucy Shagnasty.

Over the years, Grant has made a number of statements on his shows that critics have described as racist. For example, he was quoted in the Newsday of June 2, 1992, as saying "Minorities are the Big Apple's majority, you don't need the papers to tell you that, walk around and you know it. To me, that's a bad thing. I'm a white person." In his book, Grant defended this statement by writing that he did not intend to put down other races, but only intended to express that "no one likes to be in the minority," and that America can only survive by retaining its "humane, west European culture." Thus, he supports ending bilingualism and multiculturalism, two policies of which he has been highly critical.

On October 15, 2008, Grant said "Did you notice Obama is not content with just having several American flags, plain old American flags with the 50 states represented by 50 stars? He has the 'O' flag. He had the flag painted over, and the 'O' for Obama. Now,...these things are symptomatic of a person who would like to be a potentate — a dictator." The "O" flag to which Grant referred was, in fact, the state flag of Ohio.

Grant distinguished himself from other conservative talk show hosts by calling for Obama to release his long form birth certificate, prior to Obama releasing it.

Although Grant is generally known as being a conservative, he has been a critic of hard-lined conservative advocates in primary races, including the Tea Party movement's candidates. This has been a frequent debate topic between Grant and his callers over the past few years. During the fall election of 2010, Grant criticized candidates, such as Christine O'Donnell, Rand Paul, and Sharron Angle. Grant endorsed Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio on a July 10, 2010 broadcast for the Florida senate primary. On a May 8, 2011 broadcast, Grant informed his audience that he supported the moderate Jon Huntsman, Jr. for the Republican nomination for president, although he would later go on to support Mitt Romney.