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Incredibly Sad News For A TV & Radio Veteran
Larry King has almost become a satire of his former incarnation, with the bizarre infomercials and doing a talk show for a Russian TV propaganda outfit. But the man who helped pioneer overnight network talk radio is reeling after the deaths of not one but two of his children, just weeks apart.
His son Andy died of a sudden heart attack at 65. And then his daughter, Chaia, whom he used to talk about frequently on his old Mutual radio show, succumbed to lung cancer. She was 51. Both happened within three weeks of each other.
The 86-year-old King has suffered health issues of his own. Last year he had a stroke and was in a coma for several weeks.
It's often easy to make fun of the caricature of his old self that he's become over the years, but no parent should ever outlive his child. Let alone two of them.
Larry King Speaks Out After the Deaths of His Son Andy and Daughter Chaia 3 Weeks Apart
- John D
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Re: Incredibly Sad News For A TV & Radio Veteran
It's really very sad. I interviewed him once; on CFRB and in my intro I took a chance by saying this cold into the interview. "Larry King you're on the air!" He responded immediately with, "John! Long time listener, first time caller." He was and remains very sharp. Losing a child is terrible, but 2? Very Sad.
Last edited by John D (August 23, 2020 12:24 pm)
- TomTV
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Re: Incredibly Sad News For A TV & Radio Veteran
That is quite depressing news. It seems like some of the greats (I was just thinking about comic book legend Stan Lee the other day) don't get the happy endings that they deserve.
- Hansa
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Re: Incredibly Sad News For A TV & Radio Veteran
Larry King is not a journalist and never has been. He is a talented broadcaster though and his not being a journalist was actually advantageous when he was on CNN since he was able to get A-list guests who might not otherwise have come on because they knew they'd get a friendly hearing rather than a probing interrogation. Also, unlike many of today's non-journalist talk hosts he knew enough to generally keep his opinions to himself.
The problem is now that he's on his own he does not have the restraint (most) journalists have drilled into them not to compromise their integrity by pitching products - it's very rare to see retired journalists or journalists who have gone independent doing commercials or lending their names to commerical products and when they do they're roundly criticized - and he has also been exploited by grifters and snake oil salesmen wanting to use his reputation for infomercials and promotional videos since even though King is not a journalist, most of the viewing public think he is because of CNN. This recent article detailed the worst example of this:
The Disinfomercial: How Larry King Got Duped Into Starring in Chinese Propaganda
Last edited by Hansa (August 23, 2020 4:56 pm)