Larry King of the Road
The road to find out & Larry King radio; 1991. The author at Santo Domingo Pueblo, N.M.
It sounds like a strange thing to bring Larry King into a conversation about the American road.
But I got hooked on Mr. King in the summer of 1991 when I drove Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica, Ca. I was alone and I took my time: Saint James, Mo., Stroud, Ok., Seligman, Az., etc. My soundtrack was country and soul music, regional baseball games, and Mr. King, who had a late-night show on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Mr. King–who died Saturday at the age of 87–featured guest authors and took calls from listeners across the country on his early ‘90s gig. “Sioux Falls, Hello !” became one of his many shticks. Mr. King wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere. I recall him having authors talk for nearly an hour. His radio show was a thread that celebrated our commonalities and respected our differences. He was not confrontational. He knew when to pump the brakes.
Maybe Mr. King also reminded me of Jack Eigen, another elder New Yorker who hosted an entertainment-driven radio show. Eigen’s nighttime show ran on WMAQ-AM in Chicago during my teenage years in 1970 and 71. A lot of glamour emanated from my transistor radio in lonely suburban Chicago. Mr. King began his career at a Miami, Fla. radio station interviewing people in a morning show at Pumpernik’s Restaurant in Miami Beach, Fla. Comic Lenny Bruce was a regular guest. Eigen also did his show live from the Chez Paree nightclub in Chicago. Mr. King, however, did not have the abrasive on-air personality of Eigen.
Mr. King put any gasbagginess aside when conducting interviews. He got out of the way. He was not formally educated and had no desire to show that he was a know-it-all. I’ve been on both sides of interviews and there are few things worse than a journalist serving up a wandering three-minute question. Like the road, there was a rhythm to Mr. King’s deal.
His staccato U.S.A. Today column was filled with one-liners and sports tips. He was influenced by New York sportswriter Jimmy Cannon’s “Nobody Asked Me But…” Mr. King’s column transitioned into his Twitter feed, a perfect platform for his #itsmy2cents. Mr. King was riffing Burma Shave signs for social media:
“Lately I’ve been thinking about wearing 1 earring. I think I can pull it off (June 18, 2018)
“Chicken egg drop soup better than wonton soup?” (May 10, 2018)
“Does changing dollar bills from green to blue solve the world problem?” (May 9, 2018)
“I love the feeling of a scarf.” (Sept. 27, 2015)
“I don’t Google, so who invented the fork?” (July 12, 2015)
Mr. King never stopped moving. I kept an eye and an ear on him since my 1991 road trip. His endless sense of Coney Island salesmanship came from his impoverished roots in Brooklyn, N.Y. In 2014 the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago offered a promotion called “Give the Gift of Larry King.” For $24.95 I walked into the museum studio and through canned questions, Mr. King “interviewed” me about my life story. The interview was nearly edited as if I had appeared on the set with Mr. King. I gave one of these DVDs to my parents for Christmas. They appeared amused.
From the author’s collection.
In 1992 when I went to Havana, Cuba with Chicago Sun-Times photographer Bob Black, I was able to pick up Mr. King’s show out of a Miami radio station from my room at the Habana Hilton. There was uniqueness in being everywhere. I drove friends crazy with Larry King tidbits. Just this past Christmas, I gave my good friend Angelo Varias a Larry King pillow I found on Etsy. He appeared amused.
I have episodes of his 2016 weekly podcast “Back & Forth with Shawn & Larry King” (his final wife) archived on my iPhone. Their interview with Martin Short is a keeper and what’s not to like with Mr. King name-checking actor Jerry Orbach?
One of the last things I read from Mr. King was his advertorial for Prostate Health Strategies’ ProstaGenix. He confessed he used to get up five or six times a night to go to the bathroom. Who writes about this? Well, maybe pee for a fee. His life changed after taking the pills.
Mr. King wrote in part, “I love going to Dodgers games. But I stopped going as much because I would have to get up every two or three innings to go to the men’s room. Well, I don’t know if you saw the World Series last year (2019). Dodgers v.s. Astros. I was there on TV for every game at Dodgers Stadium right behind home plate. Everyone saw me. And I never had to get up to go to the men’s room.”
Mr. King was beautifully unfiltered. In his prostate essay, he wrote that he had interviewed over 60,000 people in his 61-year career. He tried to treat them all alike. Mr. King resented the fact that he was sometimes labeled as a softball interviewer. In the May 1, 1997 Hollywood Reporter “Larry King Salute on 40 years Behind the Mike” (that I saved), Mr. King explained, “If you confrontationally ask Sinatra if he’s in the Mafia, he’ll say, ‘Hell no.’ But if you ask him what he thinks of the rumors, he responds.”
The best independent radio makes connections with its regional audience through plain speak. Mr. King was able to build similar bridges with his radio listeners on a national level. Listening to Mr. King made the country seem more intimate. A good radio host shares curiosity and sense of discovery with the listener. The honest voice can become a memorable picture postcard.
Perhaps I’m not alone in my appreciation of how Mr. King’s working-class baritone touched all corners of America. On Saturday morning another one of my pop culture heroes Tweeted about Mr. King. Actor-writer Albert Brooks wished Mr. King a peaceful journey and commented how his radio show made a great opening for his timeless 1985 road film “Lost in America.”
Larry King walked the talk. And you were never alone.
Good night sweet prince……….er …..King.
Leave a Response