Jerry Springer, Former Mayor of Cincinnati and Father of Daytime Shock Television, Dead at 79

Jerry Springer, the provocative daytime talk show legend and former mayor of Cincinnati, has died at 79, according to the Associated Press.

According to a report from WLWT, Springer’s family said he died peacefully at his home in suburban Chicago on April 27.

Springer spent a decade in Cincinnati politics, serving on city council and as the city’s 56th mayor in 1977. He then spent another ten years as WLWT’s nightly news anchor where Springer earned several Emmys.

Starting in 1991, The Jerry Springer Show debuted to a limited audience as a political talk show. Springer’s namesake show quickly evolved into a shocking daytime display of conflict between everyday people. Springer would facilitate paternity test reveals, marriage confessions and in-studio brawls that blurred the lines between reality and scripted television. Chants of "Jerry, Jerry!" from audience members soon became an iconic battlecry for messy drama in America.

The Jerry Springer Show ran for 27 seasons with nearly 5,000 episodes and countless censorship bleeps. Before the show officially wrapped in 2018, Springer returned to his roots as a political and cultural commentator with The Jerry Springer Podcast (subtitled Tales, Tunes & Tomfoolery) which was recorded at the Folk School Coffee Parlor in Ludlow, Kentucky.

CityBeat highlighted the Folk School Coffee Parlor in the 2019 Best of Cincinnati issue as the “Best Place to Hang Out with Jerry Springer.” Springer and his co-hosts Jene Galvin and Megan Hils talked politics and more every episode, often with a humorous slant, while also hosting performances by local musicians, including Maria Carrelli, Dawg Yawp, Daniel Van Vechten and Ben Knight.

Funeral services are reportedly in development.