Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Dr. Toni Grant, 73; radio psychologist
268 views
Skip to first unread message
Rick B.
Apr 6, 2016, 9:25:05 PM4/6/16
to
http://variety.com/2016/biz/news/radio-psychologist-toni-grant-dies-1201746255/
Toni Grant, one of the first voices in radio psychology and a staple of
Los Angeles’ ’70s and ’80s pop culture, died on March 27 in Beverly Hills.
No cause of death has been disclosed.
Grant was first featured as a guest on Bill Balance’s “Feminine Forum.”
Her success as part of the show led her to her own call-in talk show in 1975,
capitalizing on the newly popular concept of airwave therapy.
The licensed psychologist’s show gained a large following due to her
entertaining yet informative advice. By 1981, her radio show was nationally
syndicated and at one point aired on more than 180 radio stations.
Grant was known for her somewhat controversial advice, with some critics
labeling her as an anti-feminist for her emphasis on the importance of
femininity and charm as well as uncommitted intimacy. Grant defended herself,
saying that she constantly spoke on behalf of women. She later wrote a
bestselling book called “Being a Woman: Fulfilling Your Femininity and
Finding Love.”
The radio psychologist inspired Alan Rudolph’s 1984 dramedy “Choose Me,”
a film about sex and love in Los Angeles — popular topics in Grant’s talk
show — that features radio host Dr. Nancy Love, played by Geneviève Bujold.
Grant is survived by her husband, her daughters and four grandchildren.
Toni Grant, one of the first voices in radio psychology and a staple of
Los Angeles’ ’70s and ’80s pop culture, died on March 27 in Beverly Hills.
No cause of death has been disclosed.
Grant was first featured as a guest on Bill Balance’s “Feminine Forum.”
Her success as part of the show led her to her own call-in talk show in 1975,
capitalizing on the newly popular concept of airwave therapy.
The licensed psychologist’s show gained a large following due to her
entertaining yet informative advice. By 1981, her radio show was nationally
syndicated and at one point aired on more than 180 radio stations.
Grant was known for her somewhat controversial advice, with some critics
labeling her as an anti-feminist for her emphasis on the importance of
femininity and charm as well as uncommitted intimacy. Grant defended herself,
saying that she constantly spoke on behalf of women. She later wrote a
bestselling book called “Being a Woman: Fulfilling Your Femininity and
Finding Love.”
The radio psychologist inspired Alan Rudolph’s 1984 dramedy “Choose Me,”
a film about sex and love in Los Angeles — popular topics in Grant’s talk
show — that features radio host Dr. Nancy Love, played by Geneviève Bujold.
Grant is survived by her husband, her daughters and four grandchildren.
Bryan Styble
Apr 7, 2016, 9:17:35 AM4/7/16
to
I've often wondered over the last decade or so if Toni Grant would ever again un-retire, as she'd already done at least a couple times. But fortunately, us talk radio junkies were not once more subjected to her ever-cloying, often-prurient, and profoundly-sexist broadcast.
Grant was apparently more than happy to instead simply savor the good life, married to her latest husband, after reportedly following her own oft-rendered advice to her typically emotionally-shattered female callers to never marry for love, but rather always for love AND (big) money. Grant may have done more for gold-diggers than The Dean Martin Show.
I'm surprised Variety adjudged her show "informative"; I found it corrosive to the culture. Grant promulgated a women-are-entitled-to-pampering philosophy that flies in the face of everything I came to know and appreciate about mutual respect between the sexes.
And she often furthered the myth that few men desire intellectuality in a woman. She was clearly dead-wrong on that point; I'd have valued Grant's intellect, had I ever detected much of one. (I don't doubt she was bright, given her academic accomplishments, but her broadcasts always highlighted her obsession with projecting a dainty image to men at the expense of any real cerebral content to her work.)
And then there was Grant's deliberate, clipped speaking style, every bit as affected as that always-exaggerated Columbian accent that Sofia Vargara thinks everyone falls for.
One notorious (and thankfully short-lived) local TV promo Grant did for her KABC radio show portrayed her laying on a chaise longue, adorned in sexy, pink night-wear with a Princess phone handset to her ear. (Well, at least they didn't put a microphone in her hand.)
I did like her dark red hair--presuming it was real, a hefty assumption, I'll grant.
Now, it's not that so-called "shrink radio" is inherently an illegitimate genre; Dr. Susan Forward, the late Dr. David Viscott, and especially Neil Myers and Dr. Joy Browne are all serious counselors and fine broadcasters. (Indeed, Myers has perhaps the smoothest style I've ever heard in any type of talk radio.) But Grant was always all style backed by precious little substance, and seems to have inspired the equally-obnoxious schtick of Laura Schlessinger.
My favorite moment in Grant's career, as it happens, was not on KABC/Los Angeles or her either of her short-lived nationally-syndicated radio shows. Instead, it was on the late Stanley Siegel's excellent "America Talks Back" series for Lifetime cable in the mid-80s, in those days when Lifetime was still a network uncontaminated by the Oprahization of broadcasting.
Siegel was doing an ATB edition he cheerfully admitted was pointless fluff, as it concerned Chippendale's strippers. Grant was also a guest, though Siegel wisely didn't much draw on her typically-saccarine counsel on this silly "issue". After thanking all of his other guests--there were about a half-dozen half-dressed hunks on with them--at the end of the broadcast, he turned to Grant, perched upon a bar stool rather than sitting on a chair (as Siegel and his guests did on all his various programs), and rather than the routine thank-you, instead tweaked her: "Toni--why were you here?" Grant had no answer.
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
Grant was apparently more than happy to instead simply savor the good life, married to her latest husband, after reportedly following her own oft-rendered advice to her typically emotionally-shattered female callers to never marry for love, but rather always for love AND (big) money. Grant may have done more for gold-diggers than The Dean Martin Show.
I'm surprised Variety adjudged her show "informative"; I found it corrosive to the culture. Grant promulgated a women-are-entitled-to-pampering philosophy that flies in the face of everything I came to know and appreciate about mutual respect between the sexes.
And she often furthered the myth that few men desire intellectuality in a woman. She was clearly dead-wrong on that point; I'd have valued Grant's intellect, had I ever detected much of one. (I don't doubt she was bright, given her academic accomplishments, but her broadcasts always highlighted her obsession with projecting a dainty image to men at the expense of any real cerebral content to her work.)
And then there was Grant's deliberate, clipped speaking style, every bit as affected as that always-exaggerated Columbian accent that Sofia Vargara thinks everyone falls for.
One notorious (and thankfully short-lived) local TV promo Grant did for her KABC radio show portrayed her laying on a chaise longue, adorned in sexy, pink night-wear with a Princess phone handset to her ear. (Well, at least they didn't put a microphone in her hand.)
I did like her dark red hair--presuming it was real, a hefty assumption, I'll grant.
Now, it's not that so-called "shrink radio" is inherently an illegitimate genre; Dr. Susan Forward, the late Dr. David Viscott, and especially Neil Myers and Dr. Joy Browne are all serious counselors and fine broadcasters. (Indeed, Myers has perhaps the smoothest style I've ever heard in any type of talk radio.) But Grant was always all style backed by precious little substance, and seems to have inspired the equally-obnoxious schtick of Laura Schlessinger.
My favorite moment in Grant's career, as it happens, was not on KABC/Los Angeles or her either of her short-lived nationally-syndicated radio shows. Instead, it was on the late Stanley Siegel's excellent "America Talks Back" series for Lifetime cable in the mid-80s, in those days when Lifetime was still a network uncontaminated by the Oprahization of broadcasting.
Siegel was doing an ATB edition he cheerfully admitted was pointless fluff, as it concerned Chippendale's strippers. Grant was also a guest, though Siegel wisely didn't much draw on her typically-saccarine counsel on this silly "issue". After thanking all of his other guests--there were about a half-dozen half-dressed hunks on with them--at the end of the broadcast, he turned to Grant, perched upon a bar stool rather than sitting on a chair (as Siegel and his guests did on all his various programs), and rather than the routine thank-you, instead tweaked her: "Toni--why were you here?" Grant had no answer.
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
Message has been deleted
Bryan Styble
Aug 29, 2019, 10:36:18 PM8/29/19
to
Didn't understand a lot of what you wrote, but that which was clear to me is interesting, and new to a guy who followed her career from up close, having in the mid-80s worked in Los Angeles for Metro Networks, which her station KABC used for traffic reports.
And while I don't know if her name was Antointee or how she came about what was probably just a stage name anyway, she was definitely Dr. Toni Grant, not Tony.
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
And while I don't know if her name was Antointee or how she came about what was probably just a stage name anyway, she was definitely Dr. Toni Grant, not Tony.
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
0 new messages