Posted on 12/01/2008 8:21:56 PM PST by 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.
why did they get rid of him?
You know as much as me.
I loved when he used to call then Governor Cuomo a “Sfatcheem”.
But to tell the truth, the firing of Grant years ago over the ron brown remark scared all talk radio host, making them timid in their remarks which has resulted in bland listening and a waste of time.
And curtis is like listening to fingernails on a blackboard.
that’s too bad, i liked his show
The radio business is dog-eat-dog...
Jerry Agar came to Kansas City radio, and about a year later, he left for a job at WLS in Chicago (I think). He was also doing a show on WABC in NY, but was then bumped when they brought back Bob Grant, who was one of the pioneers on NY talk radio, but to say that he got on peoples’ nerves was an understatement...
Old style NY talk radio... I remember “Long John” Neville, Bob Grant, and Barry Farber... Something I remember to this day was Barry Farber offering up a prayer on the air when news came out that the NY authorities believed they had captured the Son of Sam murderer when they got David Berkowitz...
Mark
Curtis Sliwa's voice makes me long for the dulcet tones of Mark Levin! His voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me...
Mark
“Il Supremo and His Sfaccim machine”
Meh. He's way too much of a Bloomberg-style nanny-stater liberal for me. Plus, his voice grates on my nerves.
I can’t take listening to Imus’ mumbling in the morning for more than 10 seconds. I listen to Jim Lockhart on NJ101.5 in the morning. Though it can be depressing learning about Corzine’s latest affront to the citizens of New Jersey each and every day.
I know Curtis works hard and it seems that WABC management wants to keep him on the payroll for the benefit of his wife and young son (though I don’t hear him talk about them that much lately).
I credit Bob Grant with helping me discover FreeRepublic. I was listening on the way home from work in 1998. He was talking about the “Clinton Body Count”. I searched on Yahoo and came across a posting of the body count by Michael Rivero (before he fell off the deep end). My eyes were opened and my free time has never been the same since!
Laura took getting used to but I grew to like her in that timeslot. I’m typically listening when drifting off to sleep. Now that Art Bell is coming back to coast to coast at 1:00AM, I wonder if Curtis will go back to using his tape of Art laughing and prepare listeners for “The looney kazooney from parts unknown”?
>> hiring Imus was the worst decision <<
Yep, it was definitely a bad move. I preferred the Curtis & Kubey show. But no matter how bad it was for WABC to hire Imus, bringing back Art Bell is much worse IMO.
(I just wish WABC would get back to running Steve Malzberg in the one to five a.m. slot!)
I remember some of WABC’s hosts like Jay Diamond, Lynn Samuels, Joy Behar, Mario Cuomo, and Richard Bey. What a crew...
Agreed. I have not listened to that show at all, except for the occasional one second before I realize it’s on and switch to John Gambling on 710 AM.
Grant is a living legend. It may be that his best days are behind him, but I can’t see making room for three hours of Curtis Sliwa instead (they cut an hour off the Laura Ingraham replay also).
Bob Grant is getting too old for radio. Don Imus’s brain is too fried for radio, yet ABC is keeping him on.
I remember as a kid growing up in the 60’s and 70’s the transmit signals from WABC NY was very strong. Out on Long Island no problem with reception. Ever since 9/11 the radio reception is very weak..even in NY city recently WABC signal often dropped off inbetween blocks. I can’t believe how awful and weak the signals are these days from WABC-NY.
Interesting point, but I don't think that is an accurate assessment of talk radio's "tone."
What changed talk radio more than anything else was the move toward national syndication by the major radio networks -- which can be directly attributed to Rush Limbaugh's success on the air for 20+ years. Grant's act played well in a coarse, vulgar (often in a good way!) environment like New York City, but it had almost no appeal elsewhere in the U.S. Radio hosts are bland today for two reasons: (1) they're trying to copy Rush Limbaugh and simply don't have the right on-air personality to pull it off, and (2) they have to appeal to as wide an audience as possible across the entire country.
I've said for years that Jay Diamond was the best talk radio host I've ever heard. What an extraordinary talented guy, with a great voice and one of the sharpest wits you'll hear anywhere.
He once filled in for the full hour on Ed Koch's show on WABC (Diamond was on until 11 AM, and Koch usually did a one-hour show from 11 to Noon), and he did the entire show as "Ed Koch." This resulted in some of the most bizarre phone calls in the history of talk radio.
Caller: "What the hell are you saying, Mayor Koch?! That's the exact opposite of what you just said yesterday on the very same topic!"
"Ed Koch": "I guess I'm losing my mind, sir . . . but I'm still 'the Voice of Reason' here on WABC!"
There was a similar thread on this last week, and it brought out some great comments from New York talk radio junkies!
I’m very sad about this. Bob is my favorite and there are quite a few great ones out there. Bob and his callers will be sorely missed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.