Former journalist, commentator, politician, mayor and show host Jerry Springer died Thursday at his home in Chicago. He was 79.
In 1971, Springer was elected to the Cincinnati, Ohio City Council. He resigned in disgrace three years later because of a sex scandal, admitting he paid a sex worker with a personal check. He came back to win a seat on the council in 1975 and later served as Cincinnati’s 56th mayor in 1977.
Springer then became a news anchor and commentator at NBC affiliate WLWT in Cincinnati.
“Channel 5 gave me my career. That’s everything,” Springer said of his time at WLWT. “It’s in my blood, it really is. I’m not trying to be corny about it. I love this place. I love this station. I owe it everything. There could have been lots of reasons why people turned against me, and Channel 5 said ‘Here you go. The whole package, we accept you.’ And to have that blessing in life, it’s great. I love it.”
In honor of his time at WLWT, the station collected 15 videos from Springer’s tenure in Cincinnati. Click here to check them out.
We also had a moment with Springer. “I have been everything you can’t respect,” Springer told us for a video series we used to do called My First Big Break, where we asked famous folks how they got their start. “A lawyer, a politician, a journalist and a talk show host.”
Check out Springer’s First Big Break below: