Larry King to Emcee 70th Annual Peabody Awards

ATHENS, Ga., March 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – Larry King, the long-time host of CNN's Larry King Live and a two-time Peabody Award winner, will be the host of the 70th Annual George Foster Peabody Awards ceremony on May 23, at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City.

"Larry King has greeted figures of social and cultural significance throughout his career, and the roster of his guests reads as a chronicle of our times," said Horace Newcomb, director of the Peabody Awards at the University of Georgia. "Now he will introduce the Peabody Award recipients for 2010 and welcome guests as we celebrate the 70th presentation of the awards. No one would add greater distinction to this anniversary year."

The winners of the Peabody Awards for original broadcast, cablecast and webcast programs will be announced via webcast from UGA's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication on March 31.

Dubbed a "master interviewer" by Entertainment Weekly and the "the most remarkable talk-show host on TV ever" by TV Guide, Larry King had conducted more than 40,000 interviews at the time of his retirement last December. His guest logs read like a half-century Who's Who of celebrities and political leaders: Bob Hope and Malcolm X, Barbra Streisand and Ronald Reagan, Eleanor Roosevelt and Prince, Elizabeth Taylor and Yasser Arafat, just to name a tiny fraction.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, N. Y., King first garnered attention as an interviewer on local radio in south Florida in the 1950s. His radio show went national in 1978 and, in 1985, CNN made Larry King Live the centerpiece of its prime-time schedule.

King has been inducted into five of the nation's leading broadcasting halls of fame and is a recipient of the Allen H. Neuharth Award for Excellence in Journalism. His numerous awards also include a news-and-documentary Emmy and 10 CableACE awards. King won his first Peabody Award in 1980 for his nightly syndicated program on Mutual Radio and a second in 1992 for election coverage by his CNN show.

In addition to his broadcast credits, King founded the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, which has raised millions of dollars and provided life-saving cardiac procedures for needy children and adults. King also established a $1 million journalism scholarship at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

King is scheduled to begin a stand-up comedy tour, his first, on April 14. He plans to take his evening of humorous reminiscence to seven cities, including New York and Las Vegas.

The Peabodys, the oldest awards in broadcasting, are considered among the most prestigious and selective prizes in electronic media. The Peabody Awards recognize excellence and meritorious work by radio and television stations, networks, webcasters, producing organizations and individuals. The 16-member Peabody Board is a distinguished panel of television critics, industry practitioners and experts in culture and the arts. Selection is made by the board following review by special screening committees of UGA faculty, students, and staff. For more information regarding the Peabody awards program, see www.peabody.uga.edu.

Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers undergraduate majors in advertising, digital and broadcast journalism, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and mass media arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu or follow @UGAGrady on Twitter.

SOURCE Peabody Awards