American Media: Putting the "King" into Larry King Live

American Media: Putting the “King” into Larry King Live

Today's Financial News - Posted November 26, 2007

“Larry King is the master of infotainment. He is the Walter Cronkite of infotainment. And that is a pretty scary thought. He looks old. He looks like a mortician does his makeup. Hell, the man has been on the air for more than half a century and been married seven times! But the man still has his fastball.” — Christopher Corbett

by Christopher Corbett, TFN

Baltimore — (TFN): Long, long time ago I used to work for the Associated Press in Hartford, Connecticut writing what was called in the trade “rip and read” — broadcast news copy for the radio and television stations that were our subscribers in the Nutmeg State.

This is a lonely task, performed in the dead of night. The upside of such a shift was that the telephone rarely rang on the night watch. If it did ring, it was always bad news. Very bad news. One night the Hartford Civic Center collapsed! But most nights there was nothing but the incessant clanging of the Tele-type machines that pounded like jackhammers in the office. You become inured to such noise after a while. (OSHA had not taken an interest in our well-being, yet.)

The radio was my companion in the wee hours as I wrote the next morning’s drive-time broadcast news. It was a robotic routine. The radio kept me company. In the hours after midnight, I listened to Larry King on the radio. I thought of Larry the other day because in the intervening years he has become a giant. He is now “Larry King Live.” I read that the Guinness Book of Records says he has logged more broadcast hours than any broadcaster in history. Many Americans actually believe him to be a journalist. (The standards on Grub Street were never high but they are considerably lower now.) I think it’s the suspenders.

Important people want to know Larry. To be his friend. His interviews, if that is what you want to call them, softball questions for the most part, are a fixture on CNN. Larry is not famous for a tough line of questioning. He’s the go-to guy for soft treatment.

Back when Larry was on the radio only very late at night, he was not courted by the stars and superstars. In those days he was not interviewing powerful politicians and potentates. Larry’s specialty was the fringe, weird stuff. Real Weird Stuff. I’m Having A Martian’s Baby. Sex with Bigfoot. Werewolves. Things That Go Bump In The Night. Quackery. Whatever.

My chief recollection as a long ago late night listener was that Larry was interviewing weirdoes. Guys who talked with space aliens. Guys who WERE space aliens. Guys who had dated space aliens. Larry basically ran a freak show, a carnival midway for losers and loons who were up all night. The kind of radio Travis Bickle might have listened to — if you remember the movie “Taxi Driver.”

I loved Larry’s show. And I loved Larry too. I was up all night myself at the time and why not? It made the time pass. It was often laugh out loud funny. It was stranger than fiction. It was reality broadcasting in its infancy. I listened for the assorted fruits and nuts he attracted. His callers — and he had many, some regulars — were half the fun. Larry had a powerful appeal to the up-all-night crowd. Insomniacs. Lonely shut-ins. Strange, troubled people in trailers in the middle of nowhere.

They loved Larry and they called every night. I was young and I was trying to stay awake and I suppose I was a little cruel too because I liked to listen. It was never boring.

And it proved that we did, indeed, live in the land of the spree and the home of the knave, to paraphrase Marx (Groucho, not Karl). Late nights with Larry in that long ago are among some of my fondest memories of the wire service.
Alas, because I had that early life experience with Larry of the late nights I have never entirely been able to transition, as they say, to “Larry King Live,” CNN’s longest-running interview program. I can’t take Larry seriously.

Now days you get to see Larry. On the radio I had no idea what Larry looked like. He has a great radio voice and he still does. I don’t watch Larry much now. But I think that’s my mistake. Larry is still the same old night owl he used to be. The TV show is better produced. And it favors breaking news. Perhaps a Natalie Holloway update? O.J.? Laci’s Baby?Things that are often really are not that newsworthy and sometimes are not even really news. Nonsense. Americans like nonsense. Just the other night Old Larry was talking about ghosts. The old freak show of late night radio has traveled easily to the age of the Internet. That’s infotainment!

And Larry is the master of infotainment. He is the Walter Cronkite of infotainment. And that is a pretty scary thought. Last week, “Larry King Live” provided ample evidence that Larry has not strayed too far from his roots (the former Larry Zeiger turned 74 last week). He looks old. He looks like a mortician does his makeup. Hell, the man has been on the air for more than half a century and been married seven times! But the man still has his fastball. Why just last week he ambushed — as one pundit described it — the singing Mormon Marie Osmond when he revealed on live TV that her 16 year-old son had entered rehab!!!

OK, so that’s not something they give the Pulitzer Prize for but it is something that Larry’s listeners want to know. (Larry’s listeners are more interested in who’s going to win “Dancing With The Stars” than discussing the French transit strike.)

Last week was a great one for the Great One. Larry had a guest walk out on him. That was said to be a first. A plastic surgeon who operated on rapper Kanye West’s mother the day before she died abruptly walked off “Larry King Live” during an interview. This was said to be a big deal. The question would be — why?

Who are these people?

This week Wayne Newton will be on. Yes, that Wayne Newton. And Barry Manilow is coming soon. Sharon Stone is due, too. And Marlo Thomas. Imagine that, Marlo Thomas! The stars still come out at night for Larry!

Plus Larry has guest commentaries from such luminaries as Bo Derek! Jenny McCarthy! And former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington!? Who? Why the hell would he be on “Larry King Live”?

Because he saw a UFO.

Understand?

****Make sure you sign up for our FREE TFN News Feed for breaking news, special reports and new financial videos. Click here to pick your favorite reader. If you prefer to have the feed delivered to your email, just click here.