Michael King

In his three-hour interview, Michael King (1948-2015) talks about his adolescent years and early interests and describes his first work in broadcasting, selling time in radio. He chronicles the history of King World, founded by his father Charles King, and describes how his father came to distribute the Our Gang filmed shorts (syndicated as The Little Rascals on television). He talks about how he came into the fold at the company, taking over when his father passed away in 1972, with the title executive vice president (not wishing to take the title of "president" in honor of his father). He speaks about his partnership with his brother, Roger King, and their deals over the ensuing years. He describes their creation of short news inserts and a five-minute daily soap opera starring John Gabriel, which led to their first thirty-minute property, Soap World, starring Michael Young. He talks about working with game show producers Jack Barry and Dan Enright syndicating Tic Tac Dough, in an arrangement with distributor Dick Culbert. He chronicles how King World came to syndicate Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, two of their biggest deals, and gives his impressions of show creator Merv Griffin. He mentions various ways in which the shows were promoted through the years. He describes his first impressions of Oprah Winfrey, with whom King World would have a long association as national syndicator of her talk show. Additionally, he talks about the merger between King World and CBS, and his brother Roger's continuation as CEO of the new entity. Karen Herman conducted the interview on May 7, 2008 in Pacific Palisades, CA.