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Toni Grant | |
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| Born | (1942-04-03)April 3, 1942 New York City,New York, United States |
| Died | March 27, 2016(2016-03-27) (aged 73) Beverly Hills,California, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Psychologist, talk radio host |
Toni Grant (April 3, 1942 – March 27, 2016) was an Americanpsychologist andtalk radio host.[1][2]
BornToni Gale Glickman inNew York City in 1942, Grant received herA.B. degree fromVassar College and herM.A. andPh.D. degrees inclinical psychology fromSyracuse University. While in college, she married Dr. Neil Holland, an internist, and they had two daughters, Kimberly and Courtney,[3] beforedivorcing after 14 years of marriage.[4] Grant's radio success occurred mainly inSouthern California, where she had moved with her family in 1970.
Prior to getting into broadcasting, Grant maintained a private practice, counseling formerVietnam veterans and later working withautistic children and people withschizophrenia.[3] She first got started in radio as a guest expert onpsychology on controversial Los Angeles talk show hostBill Ballance'sFeminine Forum, in 1972 on stationKGBS, and then onKABC. Grant was so well-received that in 1975, she got her own call-in advice show on KABC radio. Almost immediately, she gained a sizeable following and received critical acclaim for her ability to handle the advice-giving genre, while being both informative and entertaining. SaidLos Angeles Times media critic James Brown, "Grant... is a soothing, reinforcing sounding board for people with problems."[5] In fact, in a world of increasingly angry and confrontational talk hosts, Grant came to be known as "the Doctor who tells it like it is, but in a nice way."[6]
Beginning in 1982, Grant and several other KABC personalities, weresyndicated nationally viasatellite, on theABC Radio Network. This brought her show to a much wider audience on talk stations around the country. That year, it was reported that she was earning more than $100,000 a year, more than other radio psychologists. She was also considered more credible than some radio advice-givers because not only was she a licensed clinical psychologist but she was also a member of theAmerican Psychological Association.[7] From 1986 to 1988 her program was heard on theMutual Broadcasting System, another national radio network.
In 1988 she remarried, to business executive John McCulloch Bell, CEO and chairman of the board of Bell Packaging Corporation. She also wrote a best-selling book calledBeing A Woman, in which she advised women to return to more traditional roles and embrace the idea of home and family.[4] In 1989 she took a "sabbatical" from her radio program, which by then was originating at Los Angeles radio stationKFI. During the following years she and her husband traveled extensively, and she also assisted him in his business ventures. In 1991, she and her husband relocated toDallas, Texas, where she continued to write and do speaking engagements. In 1997, she returned to the air with another syndicated radio call-in program.
Grant died on March 27, 2016, inBeverly Hills,California, from complications fromdementia.[8][9]
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