Jerry Springer will
mark his 14th season as host of one of America's most
popular talk shows when the program that bears his name
launches for a new season Sept. 17, 2004.
Last season, viewers were
treated to new twists on their favorite show: a new
set, logo, music and production elements for the program
that began Sept. 20, 1991, and went on to become a worldwide
phenomenon. Introduced a year ago, the hugely popular
Springer Cam will return again this season, building
on its success by continuing to allow the audience to
see the guests at their most outrageous and comic best
- both inside and outside of the studio. Now seen in
180 U.S. markets-and such international territories
as England, the Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, Iceland,
Australia, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong,
Poland and Greece-the Jerry Springer Show is the nation's
No. 2 daytime talk show and, during the past season,
consistently ranked as one of the top-15 shows in syndication,
leading in all key male demographics.
Considered a cultural icon,
Springer is a regular guest on The Tonight Show, Late
Night with David Letterman, Politically Incorrect and
The Conan O'Brien Show. He became a featured character
in The Simpsons 1998 Halloween Special and played himself
on The X-Files. He has graced the covers of Rolling
Stone, Esquire and New York Magazine. Barbara Walters
asked Springer to be part of her year-end 10 Most Fascinating
People of 1998 special for ABC. In November 2000, Springer
served as the master of ceremonies for the Miss World
Pageant, and will again host this popular pageant in
November 2001.
Adding to his busy schedule,
Springer is hosting the hot game show Greed in England
in addition to hosting his own weekly British variety
show, similar to the Leno and Letterman programs. For
the past four years, Springer has regularly substituted
in London for the vacationing morning host of This Morning,
England's equivalent to the Today Show. Springer was
born in London in 1944 just after his family fled from
the Holocaust. He emigrated at age 5 to New York City
with his family, where he can still recall the sense
of awe and anticipation he felt when he first saw the
Statue of Liberty and passed through the gates of freedom
on Ellis Island. In America, they could live without
persecution. Springer is dedicated to upholding the
freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. His family
saw firsthand what happens when those freedoms are denied.
After earning a Bachelor
of Arts degree in political science from Tulane University,
Springer received his law degree from Northwestern University
in 1968. His first job after law school was working
as one of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign
aides. After Kennedy's assassination, Springer joined
a law firm and moved into the political arena himself.
He spearheaded the effort to lower the voting age from
21 to 18, which culminated with his Senate Judiciary
Committee testimony supporting ratification of the 26th
Amendment to the Constitution. He was elected to Cincinnati's
Council-at-Large in 1971, serving five successive terms.
In 1977, Springer was elected Mayor of Cincinnati by
the largest plurality in the city's history. At age
33, he was one of the country's youngest mayors.
Five years later, Springer
launched his career in broadcasting as a political reporter
and commentator on Cincinnati's WLWT-TV. He became anchor
and managing editor in 1984 and was Cincinnati's top-rated
news anchor until he relinquished the post in January
1993. During his tenure, Springer received seven Emmy
Awards for his nightly commentaries, the forerunner
to his "Final Thought," and was voted television's
best anchor for five consecutive years by readers of
Cincinnati Magazine. Of his professional achievements,
Springer is most proud of his involvement with Cincinnati
Reaches Out, contributing on-site reporting from Ethiopia
and Sudan, where he documented the effort to provide
assistance to famine-stricken Africans.
The company that owned
WLWT-TV also owned The Phil Donahue Show. One day, Springer's
employers took him to lunch and gave him a new assignment:
hosting his own talk show. Today, because of the continued
popularity of his show, Springer is a sought after guest
speaker on college campuses in the U.S. and abroad.
In recent years, he has appeared at Yale University,
Harvard University, Georgetown University, University
of Miami, University of Southern California, San Francisco
State, Emory, George Washington, American University
and many others. Springer has been a featured guest
at Oxford University in England, breaking all attendance
records for an invited celebrity speaker in 1999 and
2000.
Ringmaster, a book written
by Springer, hit store shelves in November 1998 and
shares his personal look behind the scenes of his show
and remembrances from his childhood and professional
career. Also in November 1998, Springer made his first
venture into feature films starring in Ringmaster, a
fictionalized chronicle of a television talk show. In
1999, Springer played himself in the hit movie Austin
Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
