The Milt Grant Show is an American teendance television show hosted byMilton "Milt" Grant (1923–2007). It aired onWTTG (channel 5), anindependent station inWashington, D.C., from 1956 until 1961. Similar in tone toPhiladelphia stationWFIL-TV'sBandstand, the program was not only the market's highest-rated television program throughout much of its run but preceded a lifelong career in television station management and ownership for Grant. The program was regarded as a cultural icon of late 1950s and early 1960s Washington.
Milton Grant's broadcasting career began in radio after graduating fromColumbia University andNew York University,[1][2] with stints atWARM inScranton, Pennsylvania,[3] andWashington, D.C. stationsWTOP[4] andWINX from 1947 to 1953.[5] Working exclusively atWOL starting in 1953,[6] Grant started hosting the weekly movie, dancing and talent show programMarion Showcase overWTTG the following year.[7]
Each show began with Mr. Grant calling, "Hi, kids!"
"Hi, Milt," they answered.
"What's our favorite drink?"
"Pepsi!" they shouted, in an early example of embedded advertising carefully crafted by Mr. Grant.
WTTG launchedMilt Grant's Record Hop on July 22, 1956, with WOL simulcasting the television station's audio.[8] Grant's show, which had added support of area police and civic organizations as a "constructive approach" againstjuvenile delinquency,[9] originated from a ballroom at theRaleigh Hotel[1] six days a week (weekday afternoons at 5 p.m. and noon on Saturdays).[10] Grant both produced the show and sold its advertising, withPepsi as his most notable client.[1] After signing a contract with WTTG in October 1956, Grant severed his ties with WOL.[11] The show began to be referred to asThe Milt Grant Show by April 1957.[12]
During its five-year run, the show became a Washington cultural touchstone. High-profile stars of the day—such asChuck Berry,Buddy Holly,Frankie Avalon,Nat King Cole,Bobby Darin,Ike & Tina Turner,Harry Belafonte, andFabian—as well as regional acts like The Jaguars, a band featuringCharlie Daniels, were guests on the show during its run.[13][1][14]Carl Bernstein, later an investigative reporter, described himself as a "semiregular" dancer on the show.[15] Mark Opsasnick, a cultural historian whose bookCapitol Rock chronicles the history of rock and roll music in the Washington area, credited Grant with being "one of the most important pioneers" in the genre's early years locally.[1] When theABC network debutedAmerican Bandstand and the two shows aired opposite each other, the Grant program attracted higher ratings in Washington.[1] The program was also lucrative for Grant; at one point, Grant's contract had to be renegotiated because he was making more money thanJohn Kluge, the CEO of WTTG ownerMetropolitan Broadcasting.[15]
However, not everyone was always welcome on the show. Black dancers were only allowed on Tuesdays,[16] and they were not allowed to dance with White partners.[17] Years after Grant's run ended, it would fall toWOOK-TV, a newultra high frequency (UHF) station that pioneered programming for the Black community in Washington, to fill this gap for Black audiences with itsTeenarama Dance Party.[16]
WTTG opted to cancelThe Milt Grant Show after its April 15, 1961, edition. The move disappointed Grant, baffled media experts, and led high schoolers to picketThe Washington Post, hoping to draw attention to their cause.[18][19][20] Grant then started hosting weekend shows on a "teen network" of four suburban Washington stations:WPGC,WAVA, WINX, andWEEL.[21]
Grant went on to a career inindependent station management and ownership, which began with the founding ofWDCA-TV (channel 20) in Washington in 1966 and continued in other cities until he died in 2007.[1] However, he expressed continued fondness for the time he spent hostingThe Milt Grant Show. In 1990, when he returned to Washington for aNational Archives screening of the only surviving footage of the program, he called his time hosting the program "very important". He told the audience, "We were part of the great new beginning of television and there was just so much energy. It made me fall in love with television and all its powers."[13] Grant would later note the importance of his disc jockey years in his career as a television station owner: "I learned about the audiences and how to influence them so they respond to what you ask them to do."[22]
"We did the local version ofAmerican Bandstand,The Milt Grant Show, and played the hops and teenage dances.