Legendary US talk show host Jerry Springer dead at 79

Longtime US talk show host Jerry Springer, whose programme became a symbol of low brow television with its on-air fights, swearing and infidelity revelations, died yesterday at the age of 79.Springer, whose rowdy show became an international hit that ran for 27 years and at the height of its popularity even beat Oprah, died peacefully at his home in Chicago, according to a family statement given to US media.Launched in 1991, The Jerry Springer Show began life as an ordinary talk show focusing on social issues and US politics, led by the-then mild mannered lawyer and former politician Springer, who briefly served as the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1977.However, in an effort to boost ratings, the son of Jewish German immigrants switched things up dramatically after a few years, focusing on salacious and outrageous content.In most episodes, guests came to talk about family problems and expose adultery and other transgressions.Springer would supposedly try to mediate but the encounters often ended up in fisticuffs, with guests being held back by security guards. Many shows were punctuated by his audience roaring his name: "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!”"Jerry’s ability to connect with people was at the heart of his success in everything he tried whether that was politics, broadcasting or just joking with people on the street,” a family spokesman told WLWT, the Ohio NBC affiliate where he started his career.In the late 1990s his show topped the daytime television ratings in the United States, briefly leaving the cultural giant that is The Oprah Winfrey Show in its wake.While Oprah preached wellness and healing, Springer appealed to rougher instincts, igniting criticisms that he was contributing to the "dumbing down of America”.When versions of the show began running internationally, it fascinated audiences overseas, even inspiring an opera that debuted in London in 2003."There is nothing about The Jerry Springer Show to be applauded,” wrote Variety in its obituary of the tabloid talk show host, adding that his guests "were packaged as freaks and brought onstage to be mocked”."Springer was YouTube before YouTube ... reality TV before reality TV,” argued the AV Club pop culture website in 2014. "It was America’s id, going nuts on stage, and the man who presided over it looked like a math teacher.”Springer was born in London on February 13, 1944, and immigrated to New York City when he was four years old. In 1965, Springer graduated from Tulane University and then went to Northwestern University where he got a law degree, before serving in the United States Army Reserves.He moved to Ohio, where he served on the city council and then as the city’s 56th mayor in 1977. Five years later, he ran for the Democratic nomination for Ohio governor, but lost. Springer then worked as a news anchor at WLWT 5, an NBC Cincinnati affiliate. In 1991, Springer landed his own television programme, The Jerry Springer Show, which ended its run in 2018.Springer himself married only once, Micki Velton in 1973, and the pair divorced in 1994.They share one daughter, Katie Springer.