Michael Graham () is an American conservative media personality and commentator based in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. He is a political editor for ''NH Journal'', a columnist for the ''
Boston Herald'' and a
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
News analyst.
Career
Graham was born in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, and raised in
Pelion, South Carolina. A graduate of
Oral Roberts University, he worked as a stand-up comedian before beginning his political career as a
statewide coordinator for
Pat Buchanan's Primary campaign in
1992. This experience led to his working in various
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
campaigns over the next few years. One of his candidates included Harold Worley, a Republican challenger to Senator
Strom Thurmond in
1996.
In 1998, Graham moved to the talk radio circuit. Living up to his self-proclaimed description of being "loud, obnoxious and frequently fired," Graham held positions at seven stations in seven years, including stints in
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
,
WRVA in
Richmond, Virginia, and
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, as well as Rightalk.com, an Internet radio outlet previously hosted by
Accuracy in Media.
In 2002, Graham released his first printed book of original material, ''
Redneck Nation: How the South Really Won the War'' through
Warner Books
Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hachet ...
. Many reviews praise the book's humorous and brutally honest look at the South.
Graham appeared on ''
Real Time with Bill Maher
''Real Time with Bill Maher'' is an American television talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by comedian and political satirist Bill Maher. Much like his previous series ''Politically Incorrect'' on Comedy Central and later on ABC, ''Real ...
''. In addition, he made a number of appearances during 2005 on ''
The O'Reilly Factor
''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...
'', ''
Hardball with Chris Matthews
''Hardball with Chris Matthews'' was an American television talk show that was hosted by Chris Matthews. The program premiered on the now-defunct America's Talking network in 1994 (as ''Politics with Chris Matthews'') before moving on CNBC, and t ...
'', and ''
Fox & Friends
''Fox & Friends'' is an American daily morning news and talk program that airs on Fox News. It premiered on February 1, 1998, and is currently hosted by Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade on weekdays. Will Cain, Rachel Campos- ...
'' pertaining to his "America is at war with Islam" controversy. Graham also appeared as a panelist on the local Washington, D.C., television program ''Eye on Washington,'' until his dismissal from
WMAL in August 2005. In November 2005, Graham joined the lineup of Boston's
WTKK
WTKK (106.1 FM), known as "106.1 WTKK, More Stimulating Talk Radio", is a radio station that is licensed to Knightdale, North Carolina and serves the Raleigh-Durham media market (also known as the Research Triangle). WTKK airs a talk radio f ...
; his show, dubbed "The Natural Truth," aired from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. His contract was not renewed and he parted ways with the station in December 2012, just before the station announced that it was abandoning the all-talk format and switching to music only.
Since 2005, Graham airs a weekly guest slot on the Monday edition of
George Hook's
drive time
Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cl ...
show, ''
The Right Hook'' on
Ireland's ''
Newstalk
Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...
''. Speaking from an American
right-wing perspective, many of Graham's views are often controversial to European audiences. In August 2009, Graham travelled to
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
to present the show for three days while regular host George Hook was away.
On February 11, 2013, Graham began hosting a talk show on
WCRN in
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
; the program was also heard on
WBNW in
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
,
WESO in
Southbridge,
WPLM in
Plymouth,
WXBR in
Brockton and
WCCM in
Salem, New Hampshire.
On August 5, 2013, his show premiered on the Boston Herald's new online radio station.
Graham left the Boston radio market at the end of April 2014 and spent two years in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
at Cumulus-owned radio station
WYAY (All News 106.7). He left that station in May 2016 following an on-air segment where he accused fellow talk show host
Kim Peterson of using drugs and insinuated that Peterson engaged in
bestiality.
Controversy
Graham has been involved in various controversies over his career.
* In July 2005, Graham used Islam and terrorism as the basis for a multi-day discussion on his WMAL talk radio show.
A number of Graham's comments prompted over one hundred complaints to the station and the
Council on American-Islamic Relations
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
(CAIR) issued action alerts to its subscribers encouraging them to contact WMAL to urge that "Graham be reprimanded for his anti-Islam statements," ultimately prompting WMAL to suspend him. After 28 days, WMAL elected to terminate Graham stating that he violated station policy and disregarded "management direction" to redress the situation. The situation prompted angry editorials from Graham as well as appearances on nationally televised news programs to discuss the firing.
* Graham attended a rally to protest the
Real ID Act, sponsored by
CASA de Maryland in May 2005. He was photographed in an
INS shirt, and was blocked from entering the event even as he showed ABC Radio credentials, with officials citing public safety. An altercation ensued, and police were called, with a second altercation occurring following their arrival. After questioning, Graham was allowed to enter the event with his shirt turned inside out.
* Graham was fired from his first commercial talk-radio job at WBT in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
, after comments he made on-air in the wake of the
Columbine massacre in 1999. Just hours after the shootings he said that the killing of athletes at the school was "one minor benefit of this otherwise horrible story."
* Graham drew criticism from
blogs across the political spectrum for comments about
Bill and
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
made on
CNN Headline News' ''
Glenn Beck Show'' on June 20, 2007. Referring to a
Clinton campaign ad based on the
final episode of ''
The Sopranos
''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...
'', Graham said "...didn't you at some point want to see, like,
Paulie Walnuts
Peter Paul "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri is a fictional character portrayed by Tony Sirico on the HBO series ''The Sopranos'', one of the chief henchmen of series protagonist Tony Soprano. Sirico originally auditioned for the role of Uncle Junior w ...
, somebody come in here and just whack them both right there? Wouldn't that have been great?...Come on! Where's
"Big Pussy"? Come on! Let's make it happen...I wanted that."
Beck did not agree with Graham's comments.
* During a debate on the Irish radio channel
Newstalk
Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...
on May 28, 2010, the future
President of Ireland
The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Ireland and the supreme commander of the Irish Defence Forces.
The president holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms.Constitu ...
,
Michael D. Higgins
Michael Daniel Higgins ( ga, Mícheál Dónal Ó hUigínn; born 18 April 1941) is an Irish politician, poet, sociologist, and broadcaster, who has served as the ninth president of Ireland since November 2011. Entering national politics throug ...
, accused Graham of indulging in "the radio of hysterical ignorance" and urged him to "be proud to be a decent American rather than being just a
wanker
Wanker is slang for "one who wanks ( masturbates)", but is most often used as a general insult. It is a pejorative term of English origin common in Britain and other parts of the English-speaking world (mainly Commonwealth nations), including ...
whipping up fear."
Books
* ''Banned From Public Radio'' – Pinpoint Press (1995)
* ''Clinton & Me: How Eight Years of a Pants-Free President Changed My Nation, My Family and My Life'' – Pinpoint Press (2000)
* ''The Dumbest Generation'' – iPublish (2001)
e-book
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
* ''
Redneck Nation: How the South Really Won the War'' –
Warner Books
Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hachet ...
(2002)
* ''That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom: Team Obama's Assault on Tea-Party, Talk-Radio Americans'' –
Regnery Publishing (2010)
References
External links
Official websiteColumn about Wikipedia, December 2005*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Michael
American columnists
American political commentators
American political writers
American male non-fiction writers
American talk radio hosts
People from Los Angeles
Radio personalities from Boston
Oral Roberts University alumni
People from Lexington County, South Carolina
Radio personalities from Washington, D.C.
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Obscenity controversies in radio