Video: Nighttime's Master of the Mike

It is shortly after 2 in the morning, and Larry King is just hitting his stride. He has already spent an hour on TV grilling Negotiator Herb Cohen about the hostage crisis in Lebanon, and two more on radio talking with Jonathan Coleman, author of a book about the murder of Utah Millionaire Franklin Bradshaw. Now he is fielding phone calls on any and all subjects from his late-night radio audience. A New Yorker wants to know if the Yankees' recent winning streak might lead to a pennant. ("I don't think their pitching is good enough," King replies.) A man asks King to recommend a doctor who can advise on the pros and cons of surgery for a separated shoulder. (King obliges with the names of two former guests.) Another call consists only of a disembodied recording of the opening theme from a 1960s TV series. (King identifies it: Combat, starring Vic Morrow.) All in a night's work.

The broadcasting world increasingly seems like a tower of babble. News inter viewers pose tough questions for high Administration officials; ex-game show hosts lob softballs at starlets plugging their latest movies; snarling radio talk-meisters shout angry opinions on everything from Ronald Reagan to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Amid this flood of verbiage, King provides a refreshing strain of intelligent, graceful conversation. For 71/2 years, that conversation has been largely confined to the middle of the night, on the Mutual Radio Network's Larry King Show. Now King has ventured into prime-time TV as host of a nightly talk show on the Cable News Network: Larry King Live.

A former Miami broadcaster who never went to college and mismanaged himself into bankruptcy in 1978, King does little or no research for guests and works without notes. "The best interviewers," he insists, "are those who know least about a subject. I hate to ask questions I know the answers to. And I've never been afraid to ask what might be a dumb question." This deceptively simple formula is the basis of King's great achievement as an interviewer: he approaches his job as an informed layman, intensely curious about virtually anyone who appears across his desk. He is obviously well read, a passionate sports buff and a sophisticated student of politics. Yet to an amazing degree he manages to set aside ego and loosen up guests with empathetic, probing but never baiting questions. "What I do best is create a sense of intimacy and comfort for the guest," says King. "Larry listens to his guests," says ABC Newsman Ted Koppel, one of his many fans. "He pays attention to what they say. Too few interviewers do that."

Radio is King's chosen medium, and the transition to TV has not been easy. Two years ago, he made his national TV debut on a misconceived syndicated program on which he was placed in front of a studio audience and forced to race through four to five interviews a show (on radio he spends two hours with each guest). Says he: "They were trying to make me Merv Griffin."