WMAL Disputes Pressure Over Islam Comments

A statement by management at 630 AM WMAL disputes Foxnews.com report that morning talk Fred Gandy was fired for his views on Islam.  The story also reported that WMAL was pressured by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) to fire Grandy.

The source for the Fox story was Grandy’s wife, Catherine. She told Fox her husband resigned after getting pressured by Citadel management to soften his on-air criticism of Muslims.

WMAL President/GM Jeff Boden initially released this statement:    

"Fred Grandy has informed WMAL of his intention to resign from the station and its morning program, The Grandy Group. Veteran broadcast talent Bryan Nehman will continue to anchor the morning program and in the interim will be joined by several notable guest hosts and regular contributors. The station’s morning show will also continue to provide the latest news, traffic and weather reports to its audience."

Then, this past weekend another Boden statement commented directly on the CAIR connection: 

"WMAL did not terminate Fred Grandy’s employment, and never had any intention to do so. Fred informed us on March 2nd of his intention to resign from the station. To be clear, at no time has WMAL told Fred that he was not allowed to discuss his views on Islam over the air. In fact, he has done so on numerous occasions. Further, WMAL has not been contacted by any organization seeking to restrict his broadcasts. I wish Fred success in his future endeavors."

Fred Grandy, best known for his role as Gopher in "The Love Boat," had been on air as a host at Washington, D.C.'s WMAL since 2003. He worked most recently as host of "The Grandy Group" -- his wife made regular appearances on that show under the nickname "Mrs. Fred."

According to Foxnews.com, WMAL, which carries several programs featuring conservative pundits, dumped host Michael Graham several years ago following comments he made about Islam and a subsequent campaign against the station's advertisers by CAIR.

CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper attributed the charges against his group to the "extreme anti-Muslim blogosphere."

"That claim is as credible as any other claim these hate mongers make," he told FoxNews.com. "They make it up out of whole cloth."

Hooper said CAIR had not even made any complaints to the station about Grandy.