Larry King has passed away
Woke up to the news that Larry King has died.
He was THE go-to interviewer of his time because he was a good listener. Most young people going into news commentator jobs prepare their list of five or ten questions and then are intent on getting those questions asked.
What made King great, was that he listened, and when he got something good/important from the interview subject, he'd get into a genuine conversation.
RIP Larry King
Andy Loigu RIP Lawrence Harvey Zeiger whose name was too ethnic for America so he grabbed his broadcasting name from a local liquor store --- appropriate. 8 marriages, 7 wives, and didn't even think it was weird. Hey if it
"I remind myself every morning: Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening."
"Those who have succeeded at anything and don't mention luck are kidding themselves."
I have always lived by: "better to be lucky than good, best to be good n lucky."
Put those straps on for the memories! Thanks Larry.
strangerdanger Larry King was always a good interviewer. His erratic personal life was always interesting to watch. Howard Stern used to make some good fun of that and it always was pretty funny.
I first became aware of Larry King on late night radio. He used to host an overnight talk show on the Mutual of America network, which even me, as a younger person, would enjoy tuning into during the sleepless nights I would have at times.
He spawned a group of late night radio talk shows after that, some of which basically took his place, like Art Bell, and the current one that is broadcast all over America, Georgy Norry, Coast to Coast AM. All good listens when one is looking for distraction in the middle of the night.
But, you could never beat Bob Grant, during the days on the radio. The 12 year old me first tuned into Grant when he was broadcasting on WMCA- that was where my true love of talk radio came from. Him and John Sterling, who had probably one of the first sports talk call in shows in our area back in the 70's on WMCA also.
Larry King- an original and a great entertainer himself.
The Rhyme Animal I got to chat with John Sterling in the media room at Rutgers, when the Nets played there and John was their radio play-by-play guy.
I go back to John's days in Baltimore when he had a radio talk show, and did Bullets NBA games on radio and Orioles games on TV. MY favorite John Sterling calls go back to his Orioles days when Brooks or Frank Robinson drove in runs ... "it's a ribby for Robbie" and "Here's to you, Mr. Robinson" when Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson was brand new on the hit parade. He later used those calls for Robinson Cano's Yankees days.
Back in the day Sterling did not try to have a clever call for EVERY home run. I remember this one, though, "going, going, you know where, home run for Paul Blair."
Yes Andy, I remember Sterling doing the Nets games, when they went "that away to Piscataway"- he would always just remark how small and tiny and dingy the place was. And, his great calls on shots by "Super John" Williamson, and "Bullet" Bernard King. If my memory is correct, didn't he also say "Swish" when a Nets player made a basket?
You were lucky to have met him in those days. I only met him once down at Yankees spring training back in 2001, and had a nice convo with him. (actually I also talked to him and Suzyn at the 2017 spring training now that I am thinking about it. )
He also did Islander games back then, and his signature call when the Islanders scored was "Islander Goal, Islander Goal!"
And, one of my favorite lines was from his talk show on WMCA, when he would get real angry at a caller, he would yell at him and tell him to "Give it a rest you creep!" Loved that!
But, sorry we went off topic, long live John and sad Larry King is gone, both are iconic.
I remember Sterling going "bulls-eye." After an Earl Monroe basket, I remember him saying, "how can you describe what he just did? He could go one-on-one against God!"
Not really off topic, it's becoming a thread about favorite broadcasters.
Larry King was a pioneer who popularized talk shows and kept it fact based, showed us how to do it right, a seeker of truth and solutions to our problems. Great man who left a legacy!
Oh, and another Sterling line about Monroe, who was getting treatment on both knees but still kept averaging 24 a game ... "Monroe's knees are the two worst joints in Baltimore, but he keeps on going."
Commenting is no longer available.