Morton Downey, Jr. (born Sean Morton Downey; December 9, 1933 - March 12, 2001) was an American singer, songwriter and later a television talk show host of the 1980s who pioneered the "trash TV" format.
Downey attended New York University. He was a program director and announcer at a radio station in Connecticut in the 1950s. Downey, whose father had been a popular singer, soon followed him into the music business. He sang on a few records and th...
more
Morton Downey, Jr. (born Sean Morton Downey; December 9, 1933 - March 12, 2001) was an American singer, songwriter and later a television talk show host of the 1980s who pioneered the "trash TV" format.
Downey attended New York University. He was a program director and announcer at a radio station in Connecticut in the 1950s. Downey, whose father had been a popular singer, soon followed him into the music business. He sang on a few records and then began to write songs, several of which were popular in the 1950s and 1960s. He joined ASCAP as a result.
In the 1980s, Downey was a talk show host at KFBK-AM in Sacramento, California, where he established his abrasive and much imitated right wing, populist style, relentlessly deriding anyone who disagreed with him or had a liberal point of view. Downey's success, coupled with the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, laid the groundwork for more aggressive, opinion-based talk radio. His work led to the "trash talk" genre of Jerry Springer,...
less
