Profile
Springer recently
taped in Detroit.
On Both Sides
%LICE BURDICK SCHWEIGER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Jerry Springer
has switched
from Cincinnati
politician to
national talk
show host.
e has been a
lawyer, a mayor, a
gubernatorial can-
didate, and a tele-
vision news anchor. This
fall he has become one of
the new additions in the
highly competitive
national talk show arena.
His name is Jerry
Springer and he never
thought that his political
background would have
been a springboard into
TV land.
"It was a pure fluke
that I became a talk
show host," says Mr.
Springer, who visited
Detroit recently to help
publicize the "Jerry
Springer Show," which
airs weekdays at 10 a.m.
on Channel 4. "It isn't
what I aspired to be."
What he did aspire to
be, and did become, was
an attorney and a politi-
cian. As an activist in the
H
1960s at both Tulane
and
University
Law
Northwestern
School, he spoke out for
civil rights and against
the war in Vietnam, and
made a name for himself
when he became Senator
Robert F. Kennedy's
presidential campaign
aide.
"I met Bobby Kennedy
through a law professor
of mine in 1967," recalls
Mr. Springer, who says
that Mr. Kennedy had a
great influence on his
life. "At that time the
Democrats were trying to
get Bobby to run against
Lyndon Johnson in the
'68 primaries. My profes-
sor was good friends with
the senator, and Bobby
was in town spending the
night at his house.
"The professor invited
me over so the senator
could hear what I had to
say about the war. We
really hit it off and I
wound up going through
college campuses in the
Midwest campaigning for
him."
When Senator Kennedy
was assassinated, Mr.
Springer moved to
Cincinnati to practice
law. However, it did not
take long before his taste
for politics returned, and
he served five successive
terms in the city council
and was elected mayor of
Cincinnati.
His political career
came to a halt in 1982
after losing the Ohio
gubernatorial race, and
Mr. Springer laughs that
his entree into broadcast-
ing came as a consolation
prize for losing the elec-
tion.
"I ran against Dick
Celeste, and Channel 5, a
local station, offered an
anchor job to whoever
lost," he chuckles. "The
voters decided that I
could anchor the news!"
For 10 years he did the
nightly news along with
commentaries, and last
year another opportunity
came knocking at his
door.
"Multimedia, the com-
pany that owns Channel
5, also owns the Phil
Donahue and Sally Jessy
Raphael shows, and
wanted to start another
talk show," he says. "And
they asked me to host it."
Last year, the program
debuted from Cincinnati
and was shown in six
cities. Within the year it
became syndicated in 24
markets, and this fall the
show moved to Chicago
and jumped to 95 mar-
kets, including Detroit.
Although he has only
been on the national air-