King, Larry (1933—)

One of the late twentieth century's foremost television talk show hosts, Larry King's distinctive style, at once relaxed and commanding, and his focus on issues of topical interest, elevated the talk show genre to something of national importance. Starting out as a disc jockey on local radio, King worked hard to rise in the broadcasting media, overcoming self-created reversals of fortune to become a pioneer of the modern phone-in show on both radio and television. CNN's most popular program, Larry King Live (1985—), has made its host one of the most sought-out interviewers in the world, a man who has proved that entertainment value need not be sacrificed in order to examine important matters.

Born Lawrence Harvey Zieger in Brooklyn, New York in 1933, the son of Russian immigrants who a year previously had been devastated by the death of their firstborn son, the young Larry was nine when his bar-owner father died of a heart attack, leaving his mother to support the boy and his younger brother on welfare. Deeply affected by his father's death, King stopped paying attention to his studies and crippled his chances of entering college. After graduating from high school, he immediately sought work to help support his mother and brother.

Despite his lack of academic dedication, King aspired to a career in radio. In his early twenties, while working for UPS as a delivery man, he frequented broadcasting studios around New York, but grew increasingly despondent about the prospects of getting his dream job. However, a chance meeting with a CBS staff announcer resulted in the suggestion that if he was serious about getting on the air, he should leave the world's media capital for a smaller but growing media market where more opportunities might present themselves.

This advice led King to Florida, where a lack of immediate success found him sweeping floors at the smallest station in town. He used the opportunity to learn everything he could about the radio business and, at age 23, he got his break as a morning disc jockey on a small AM Miami station. It was the station's manager who suggested he drop the "ethnic" name Zieger in favor of the more American King. By 1961, Larry King was a popular personality in the south Florida radio market. His success in the medium led him to try his hand in the emerging world of television, and in 1960 he began hosting a program on a Miami station. During this time and through the early 1970s, he maintained shows on both radio and television, and added newspaper columns in The Miami Herald and The Miami News, which helped fuel his popularity in Florida.

King's hard-earned success shuddered to an unfortunate halt in the 1970s. During the 1960s, he overspent wildly, gambled on horses, and failed to pay his taxes. He also became involved with Lou Wolfson, a shady Florida financier who had been connected with the scandal that led to the resignation of Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas in 1969. A scheme to bankroll New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's investigation of the President Kennedy assassination was Wolfson's brainchild, one in which King became deeply enmeshed. King was the middleman in the arrangement, but skimmed some of the cash intended for Garrison as a means to help get himself out of debt. When Wolfson learned of this, he charged King with grand larceny and, although the charge was eventually dismissed, the damage was done. King left Florida radio in 1971, taking his talents and his focus to the West Coast, where he rebuilt his career by writing magazine articles and working in radio. By the mid-1970s, time had healed his reputation and image and he was welcomed back into the market where he had started: south Florida.

After building his show up in Miami, King was able to take his self-titled radio program, The Larry King Show, to a national audience in 1978, making it the first nationwide call-in show. King's popularity in the overnight program led to further opportunity in 1985 when the four-year-old Cable News Network (CNN) was looking to expand its programming in order to temper its image as merely a video wire service. CNN put Larry King Live on television as the first international live phone-in television program, where he proceeded to interview public figures across a wide spectrum that included athletes, actors, writers, politicians, and foreign dignitaries. The mix of guests and King's unique style found an immediate public response. King projected innate curiosity and intense interest onto his guests in such a manner as to provoke more honest answers than many of them were accustomed to giving before a national audience. Furthermore, by allowing the general public to ask questions, which like King's own, tended to be softballs not intended to inflame, King gave the show a friendly feel that has contributed to his reputation as "The King of Talk."

King's influence was highlighted on February 20, 1992 when billionaire Ross Perot used Larry King Live to announce his intention to run for the presidency. Following the attention surrounding the Perot announcement and the unique means through which it was made, other politicians chose to use King's program as a significant forum to discuss the issues of the 1992 election. The election, which is recorded in history as the first time candidates used talk shows as a major means to reach voters while circumventing traditional channels, saw King, by now dubbed "The King Maker," as the number one choice of host for the purpose. The major presidential candidates appeared on King's show 17 times in the last two weeks of the campaign alone, each of them devoting a full hour to the show during this intense time. The status of Larry King Live rose several more notches on November 9, 1993, when vice-president Al Gore agreed to appear on the air with Perot to have King moderate a debate on the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was under consideration by Congress. On the road to the 1996 elections, King's influence was not forgotten: a number of potential candidates used his show to test the waters for their White House chances.

The many awards with which Larry King has been honored include the Broadcaster of the Year Award from the International Radio and Television Society and the ACE Award for Program Interviewer. He has also won the Jack Anderson Investigative Reporting Award and the George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting. He is the author of a number of books, including Larry King by Larry King (1982), Tell It to the King (1988), "Mr. King, You're Having a Heart Attack" (1989), Tell Me More (1991), On the Line: The New Road to the White House (1993), How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere: The Secrets of Good Conversation (1994), the children's book Daddy Day, Daughter Day (1997, with daughter Chaia), and Powerful Prayers (1998). King also writes a weekly column for USA Today.

—Alyssa L. Falwell