Michael Jackson (radio commentator)
Michael Jackson is a
radio talk show host based in the
Los Angeles area. Jackson is best known for his
political radio show, which aired on L.A.
radio station KABC.
He was a radio deejay in his native
South Africa and
England before coming to the United States. In the 1960's he started one of the first radio talk shows in the country on
KEWB during the overnight hours, in the middle of spinning records. He received national acclaim in
Time Magazine for saving the life of a suicidal person by keeping him talking on the phone until the police came. [
1]
After that, he moved to Los Angeles, where he began hosting talk radio on
KNX-AM in 1964 before beginning a 30 year tenure on heritage talk station KABC, occupying the 9 am to noon spot. The mid-day talk show drew guests from around the world but began regularly losing to
The Rush Limbaugh Show on crosstown
KFI. The show was deemed too liberal and serious for the new generation of talk listeners. He was then demoted to weekends (with his weekday spot replaced by
Dennis Prager) and then released. He then ended up at stations
KRLA (1110) and
KLAC until those stations ended their talk radio format.
Most recently, he returned to
all-news radio station
KNX as a news analyst and interviewer until he chose not to renew his contract, citing a lack of a regular time slot. Ironically, he was fired by KNX in
1965 after giving commentary on the
Watts Riots. [
2]
He is not related to the
singer of the same name.
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Michael Jackson Talk Radio
