The Circus Ringmaster of TV Talk is Dead

The news came down that TV talk show host Jerry Springer died at the age of 79.

While FTVLive doesn’t cover talk shows, and we certainly don’t watch them, Springer had a past in TV news.

He worked as an anchor at Cincy’s WLWT and made a big splash in Chicago in the late 90s.

Springer was doing his talk show out of the NBC Tower in Chicago, which also housed WMAQ, the local NBC station.

Then WMAQ News Director Joel Cheatwood decided to use Spring to do commentaries on the newscast.

It was a very unpopular stance in the WMAQ newsroom, and longtime anchors Carol Marin and Ron Magers left the station over the incident.

The ratings stunt did not last long, but it is still mentioned from time to time in Chicago newsrooms.

Some still point to Springer on WMAQ as the start of the downfall of local news.