Michael Jackson Dies: KABC Host, Radio Hall Of Fame Inductee Was 87
16.01.2022 - 01:53
/ deadline.com
Michael Jackson, the Los Angeles talk radio personality who spent 32 years at KABC Radio and was syndicated on the ABC Radio Network for nearly a decade, died peacefully today at his LA home after a decade-long battle with Parkinson’s disease, a family spokesperson tells Deadline. He was 87.
“The world knew and adored our Michael Jackson. But Michael’s home was California, Los Angeles, America,” said Jackson’s frequent radio guest, former California Senator Barbara Boxer in a statement. “For that we are grateful.”
During Jackson’s time at KABC between 1966 and 1998, he interviewed hundreds of public figures including Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, along with Heads of State, governors, senators, A-List film and TV stars, authors, musicians, singers and artists.
“It was a testament to Michael, that so many of the guests and celebrities preferred to actually come in studio, rather than do phoners. With his British accent and boyhood charm, Michael made people comfortable, they opened up. That was his gift,” observed Lyle Gregory, Jackson’s show producer of 30 years and close family friend. “Michael molded an interview into conversation, news and information. Like two people sitting at a kitchen table talking. A table, an open window, where millions tuned in daily across the nation, so many of them referring to Michael as their personal University.”
The radio personality was born in England on April 16, 1934, launching his career as a disc jockey in South Africa when his family moved there following World War II. In 1958, he and his family relocated once again—this time, to the United States—with Jackson continuing his career as a DJ for San Francisco’s KYA and KEWB