Remembering Michael Grant

Michael Grant, the original host of “Arizona Horizon,” passed away on July 15, 2024, after battling a long illness. He was only a day short of turning 73.

Grant hosted “Arizona Horizon” from 1981 up until his retirement from the show in 2006, totaling 25 years covering topics from Sandra Day O’Connor’s Senate confirmation hearings to the AzScam scandal.

We remember Michael Grant with this interview from 2011. In this interview, Ted Simons asked Grant what the idea originally was when creating the show, and Grant said, “Bob Ellis and Chuck Allen had a belief that a PBS affiliate couldn’t establish a local identity without a local news show.” At that time, longform interviewing was still unusual, and “Nightline” had just kicked on so the idea for “Horizon” popped up.

Grant was contacted in the spring of 1981 after previously working for channel 8 in the 1970s on the radio show and on a short lived show called “Arizona Interactions.” Grant was also an attorney who focused on telecommunications and public utility law and knew he would have to choose either that path or hosting a show five nights a week.

The show began in the fall of 1981, and Grant began with the intention of trying it out for six months, which eventually led to 25 years.

Grant’s coverage of the Sandra Day O’Connor hearing gave “Arizona Horizon” it’s lead. Grant also expressed this to be his fondest moment hosting the show.