Michael Jackson, the Los Angeles talk radio personality who spent 32 years at KABC Radio and was syndicated on the ABC Radio Network for nearly a decade, died peacefully Saturday at his LA home after a decade-long battle with Parkinson’s disease, a family spokesperson tells Deadline. He was 87.

During Jackson’s time at KABC between 1966 and 1998, he interviewed hundreds of public figures including Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, along with Heads of State, governors, senators, A-List film and TV stars, authors, musicians, singers and artists.

The radio personality was born in England on April 16, 1934, launching his career as a disc jockey in South Africa when his family moved there following World War II. In 1958, he and his family relocated once again—this time, to the United States—with Jackson continuing his career as a DJ for San Francisco’s KYA and KEWB before moving to L.A to work at KHJ, KNX, and later, KABC.

Ralph Emery, a radio and TV host who became as famous in the country world as most of the stars he interviewed over the decades, died Saturday in Nashville. He was 88. No immediate cause of death was given.

Emery first achieved prominence on radio as the late-night DJ on the quintessential country music station, WSM, a gig he got in 1957, when he was 24, and held onto through 1972. For some of those years, in 1961-64, he was also heard nationwide as an announcer for the WSM-hosted Grand Ole Opry.

“Ralph Emery was often better known than the stars he introduced to larger and larger audiences over the years as country music’s foremost ambassador,” said Sarah Trahern, CEO of the Country Music Association.

Story Date: January 18, 2022