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Larry King, who has hosted the 'Larry King Live' show int the 9 p.m. EST slot for 25 years, has decided to step down. The TV interviewer cites a desire to spend more time with his wife and young children and plans to leave the show later in 2010 during the fall season.The big announcement was made on Tuesday, June 29, 2010. King had also placed a tidbit on Twitter which said " Announcing tonight: I’m ending my nightly show this fall but continuing at CNN" (Twitter). As an aside, the TV host has 1,648,920 Twitter followers.
King indicated he went to his employers and expressed his wish to step down and that "CNN has graciously accepted" (CNN.com).
Jon Klein, President of CNNUS, gave this statement "Larry is a beloved member of the CNN family and will continue to our air with periodic specials".
It seems while King is stepping down from his regular gig, he won't be retiring in full, just from the show, and does plan to stay with CNN. King has also spoken of desires to try other projects and with his leave of 'Larry King Live', he'll have much more free time to explore these other interests.
More importantly he wants to have time to attend his kids' little league games.
Twenty-five years is a long time and King's was a record breaker. Recently his run on CNN resulted in the show making the Guinness Book of World Records having been declared as the longest running show with a host in a stable and consistent time slot. While his ratings have dropped in recent years in the competitive time slot, his show still ranks in at #4.
Over the years King has interviewed some pretty big names including politicians, entertainers, sports celebrities, business entrepreneurs- over 50,000 interviews total. Since President Richard Nixon, King has interviewed every U.S. President.
He's also played mediator to many debates, include some pretty heated ones. Ross Perot launched his presidential campaign on the 'Larry King Live' and the show was also the setting for the historical Al Gore and Ross Perot NAFTA debate in 1993; the latter was one of the highest rated shows in the history of cable television.
As King leaves the 'Larry King Live' show he takes with him the experience of the tens of thousands of interviews, meetings with historical and iconic people, an Emmy, two Peabody Awards and a 1992 induction into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame (CNN.com).
While King is leaving his long time show, it's probable he won't be out of the spotlight completely.
Larry King Live 2010 Video - World Longest Running TV Show set Guinness World Record 2011
