LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Long-time Los Angeles radio talk show host Ray Briem has died of cancer at age 82, his son Bryan said.
Briem's midnight-to-5 a.m. program on KABC-AM, which ran from 1967 to 1994, helped set the mold for what has become a major radio format, the Los Angeles Times said Friday, noting that Briem died Wednesday at his Malibu home.
"We consider him one of the most important radio talk-show hosts of all time. There were only a handful of stations doing talk (in 1967). It was all based on these creative characters, and Ray Briem was one of the originals," said Michael Harrison, publisher of the radio trade publication Talkers.
Briem's specialties included telephone calls to celebrities, championing conservative causes, slamming liberals and extolling his beloved big-band music, the newspaper said.
