Larry King (born November 19, 1933) is an American television/radio host. Since 1985, King has hosted a nightly interview program on CNN called Larry King Live.

Early life

Larry King was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger, the son of Jennie (née Gitlitz), a garment worker, and Edward Zeiger, a restaurant owner and defense plant worker. He was raised in a "very culturally Jewish" family. His father died at 44 of heart disease when King was nine,Larry King, A Heart Healthy Life to Enjoy. The Larry King Cardiac Foundation. Accessed on May 5, 2007. and his mother had to go on welfare to support Larry and his younger brother. His father's death affected King greatly, and King lost interest in school, ruining his chances to go to college. After graduating from high school, he worked to help support his mother. From an early age he wanted to go into radio.Broadcaster's Hall of Fame biography

Miami radio

A CBS staff announcer, whom King met by chance, told him to go to Florida, a growing media market where openings still existed for inexperienced broadcasters. King rode a bus to Miami. After initial setbacks, King got his first job in radio through persistence. The manager of a small station, WIOD in Miami Beach, hired him to clean up and perform miscellaneous tasks. When one of their announcers quit, they put King on the air. His first broadcast was on May 1, 1957, when he worked as the disc jockey from 9 a.m. to noon. He also did two afternoon newscasts and a sportscast. He was paid $55 a week. He acquired the name Larry King when the general manager said that Zeiger was too ethnic and difficult to remember, and instead suggested the surname King, which he got from an ad in The Miami Herald for King's Wholesale Liquor. He started interviewing on a midmorning show for WIOD, at Pumpernik's Restaurant in Miami Beach. He would interview anyone who walked in. His first interview was with a waiter at the restaurant. Two days later, singer Bobby Darin, in Miami for a concert later that day, walked into Pumpernick's as a result of coming across King's show on his radio; Darin became King's first celebrity interview guest.

His Miami radio show launched him to local stardom. A few years later, in May 1960, he hosted Miami Undercover, airing Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. on WPST-TV channel 10 (now WPLG). On the show he moderated debates on important issues of the time. King credits his success on local TV to the assistance of another showbiz legend: comedian Jackie Gleason, whose national TV variety show was being filmed in Miami Beach during this period. "That show really took off because Gleason came to Miami," King said in a 1996 interview he gave when inducted into the Broadcaster's Hall of Fame. "He did that show and stayed all night with me. We stayed till five in the morning. He didn't like the set, so we broke into the general manager's office and changed the set. Gleason changed the set, he changed the lighting, and he became like a mentor of mine."