Larry King - a King of the American TV and Radio Broadcasting - Research Paper Example

Larry King from CNN He is an American television and radio host who was born in the year 1933 in Brooklyn, New York. Since 1957, he has been associated with the field of media in one capacity or the other. His father was a restaurant owner as well as a defense plant worker and his mother was a garment worker who had migrated from Belarus. His early life was in a religious family and thus grew up in a Jewish home. It was in his adulthood that he became an agnostic. The death of his father at the age of 44 years affected him a great deal as he had to support the family. He lost interest in school but somehow completed his high school. After doing this, he went to support his mother by working with her. His desire however was to make a name for himself in the radio, which he eventually did. He is hailed as one of the most sought after names within the broadcast industry as his hosting is recognized globally. For his works, he has been conferred with an Emmy Award, ten Cable ACE Awards and a couple of Peabody Awards. His early career kicked off in the 1950s when Larry King started as a local journalist and radio interviewer in Florida. Due to his immense talent and added hard work, he was praised everywhere. He became renowned after doing an all-night national radio show which started in 1978. After this, he started hosting a nightly interview TV program named as Larry King Live on CNN, in 1985. Larry King did the Larry King Live on CNN till 2009 after which he was supposed to host only special shows on and off. He was replaced by Piers Morgan in December 2009. His span of 25 years with CNN speaks for its own self (Mclaughlin 2001). Nearly all age brackets within life know him for his staunch questioning and the manner in which he conducted his interviews. This is the reason why many celebrities, artists, sportspersons, politicians and researchers were invited to his shows regularly. His first show with CNN was initiated in June 1985. He hosted a number of controversial personalities on his shows which essentially made the Larry King Live a unique show in its own right. As far as his conducting of the show was concerned, he had a very direct and non-confrontational approach. He allowed the guests to speak their mind and thus allow them to get their message to their intended audience without any hindrances whatsoever. The guests felt special being on his show, which is indeed a positive if seen within the related settings of the Larry King Live show. He asked easy, open-ended questions which made him an instant hit with his guests. Also the audience enjoyed the cozy dialogue between Larry King himself and the guests present on the show (Farha 2001). As far as his interview style is concerned, frankness is one word that comes to mind. He was vivid and very clear on his topic, and thus the reason why he was always prepared on his show. He had the exact idea as to how to prepare himself for the show and what kind of subject he was studying before sitting in front of the guest. There were occasional bursts of humor embedded within his conversation with the guests. His approach was very welcoming for those guests who usually avoided any interviews. Even though he was known for his lack of pre-preparation of the interview, he had solid knowledge at hand. Much appreciation goes on his shoulders because people appreciate him for what he did and what kind of atmosphere he created in the studios. A number of guests felt emotional within his show and started to weep. There seems to be an emotional bonding of Larry King with his guests and thus the reason why his guests understood that Larry King is one man who can be considerate enough and can understand what they are saying. CNN’s online biography suggests that Larry King conducted nearly 40,000 interviews during his career. Apart from conducting the Larry King Live on CNN, he also wrote for a newspaper regularly. This was a column that appeared in the USA Today for about 2 decades. This column comprised of short plugs, dropped names and superlatives (Author Unknown 2009). However the column was dropped when the newspaper redesigned its section titled ‘Life’ in 2001. This column was resurrected in the form of a blog in November 2008 and on Twitter in April 2009. He announced his stepping down from the CNN channel in the wake of induction of Piers Morgan for a place in the primetime. Morgan is a British TV personality and a renowned journalist. The final edition of his show will be aired on 16th December 2010. After this, in 2011, Morgan would occupy Larry King’s timeslot. As far as his personal life is concerned, he married eight times, to seven women. As far as his work domains are concerned, his awards speak for their own selves. He has received a number of awards for both TV and radio. In the year 1989, he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame and after a period of 7 more years, he was included within the Broadcasters’ Hall of Fame as well. In 1988, he received an Honorary Degree from the Brooklyn College in the City University of New York due to his immense achievements and contributions in life (Stein 1998). His health suffered a setback when he suffered a heart attack in 1987 and then had to undergo quintuple-bypass surgery. He has penned down a couple of books about how one can live with a heart disease. In February 2010, he revealed that he had to undergo surgery 5 weeks earlier in order to place stents within his coronary artery so that his heart could be rid free from plaque. Larry King is a phenomenon in his own right as his work is hailed left, right and center. For his immense contribution to the world of broadcasting and radio, one can only be grateful to this great personality. Works Cited Author Unknown. CNN Hero. Filipinas, Vol. 18, May 2009 Farha, Brian. Larry King Live, Media Integrity, and Meeting the Psychic Challenge. Skeptic, Vol. 9, 2001 Mclaughlin, Bill. Hard Times at CNN. World and I, Vol. 16, June 2001 Stein, Benjamin J. Hell, Larry. The American Spectator, Vol. 31, March 1998 Read More