Hello, Larry

First time caller, longtime listener, well, I never did call. I never reached out to share my opinions or questions I might have had about the topic or guest whom you were presenting. But I have to say that the lasting impression I have is this: the suspenders.

Sure, the rolled up sleeves were a nice touch, but the suspenders let us all know that you were a broadcaster from another time. A time of braces and thoughtful consideration. Larry King got his first job in broadcasting as a disc jockey for Miami's WAHR in 1957 when he was twenty-four years old.  He would be a fixture on radio and then television for seven decades. He was the host of the Cable News Network's longest running show, eponymously titled, of course. Last Saturday, Larry King signed off for the last time.

Heart disease couldn't get him. A stroke didn't stop him. COVID-19 finally did what even bad ratings couldn't do: cancel Larry King. Over a career that long, Larry sat across from the famous and nearly famous, giving us all a glimpse inside the people that drove our zeitgeist. He was as impressed by the celebrities who sat across from him as we were. He wasn't out to get anyone. He just seemed genuinely interested. Like when he asked former president Nixon, “When you drive by the Watergate, do you feel weird?” Or when he asked a New York real estate mogul prior to his job as a game show host, “Does it have to be buildings?” He sometimes bragged that he never prepared for interviews. Which was part of his charm. Each subject was a revelation to him. Including the time he was chatting with Jerry Seinfeld and was surprised to hear that Jerry's show hadn't been cancelled, he went out on top. 

Which left the door open for us, the public, to participate right alongside him. He would take calls from out there in radio and TV land, letting the audience get a chance of getting up close and personal with the famous and infamous. And if was a little clueless at times, it might have been because he was so busy talking to somebody different every night. 

And now he can rest that big voice of his. He can read some of the books that he didn't have a chance to read before his next guest came on to plug them. He can celebrate a life on the air. He stomped on those airwaves, and the Terra. He will be missed. 

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