R.I.P.: Michael Jackson, Celebrated L-A Talk Radio Personality

Michael Jackson (1934-2022)

Michael Jackson, renowned KABC Radio and Los Angeles talk radio personality, died Saturday with his children at his bedside. 

He was 87, according to The Wrap.

According to a family spokesperson, Jackson had suffered from Parkinson’s Disease for more than a decade.

Born in England, Jackson lived through World War II and The Blitz bombings of the British Isle, where his father served as a Royal Air Force Navigator Trainer. After the war, the Jackson family moved to South Africa, where Michael began a career as a radio disc jockey. In 1958, horrified by apartheid, the family moved to San Francisco, where Jackson worked as a DJ at KYA and KEWB, before moving to Los Angeles at KHJ and later KNX.

Eight years later, Jackson took a job at KABC Radio in Los Angeles (and syndicated on the ABC Radio Network), where he remained for nine years, kicking off a 32-year run as one of the most notable radio talk show personalities at the time. During his three-decade career, Jackson interviewed such political luminaries as Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, along with A-List movie and TV stars and other creative artists.Jackson received a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984, was named the Los Angeles Times’ “Number One Radio Talk Host of the Year” in 1997 and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2003. He was a Member of the Order of the British Empire who also earned accolades throughout his career including four Golden Mike Awards, an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Western School of Law and the French Legion of Merit Award. More than 2,000 of his radio interviews are housed in the Library of Congress.