Lawrence Harvey Zeiger (born November 19, 1933), better known by his stage name Larry King, is an American television and radio host. He is recognized in the United States as one of the premier broadcast interviewers of modern times. King has conducted some 40,000 interviews with politicians, athletes, entertainers and other newsmakers. He has won an Emmy Award, two Peabody Awards and ten Cable ACE Awards.

King began as a local Florida journalist and radio interviewer in the 1950s and '60s. He became prominent as an all-night national radio broadcaster starting in 1978, and then came to dominate the airwaves when he began hosting the nightly interview TV program Larry King Live on CNN, which started in 1985.

Early life

Lawrence Harvey Zeiger was born to Jennie (née Gitlitz), a garment worker, and Edward Zeiger, a restaurant owner and defense plant worker. Larry's parents were Jews who had emigrated from Belarus (Minsk and Pinsk) to Brooklyn, New York City, where Larry was born. He was raised in a "very culturally Jewish" family. His father died at 44 of heart disease when Larry 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 Larry greatly, and he 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 Larry met by chance, told him to go to Florida, a growing media market where openings still existed for inexperienced broadcasters. Larry rode a bus to Miami. After initial setbacks, Larry got his first job in radio through persistence. The manager of a small station, WAHR (now WMBM) in Miami Beach, hired him to clean up and perform miscellaneous tasks. When one of their announcers quit, they put Larry 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.