John Ziegler (talk show host)-The Daily Ledger

John Ziegler (born March 28, 1967) is a former radio program host, documentary film writer/director, and conservative journalist.

He was the evening (7-10 PM) host of a radio talk show called The John Ziegler Show on KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles, California, from 2004 to 2007. He has hosted a Sunday evening radio program, the John and Leah Show. He is a staff columnist for Mediaite.

John Ziegler (talk show host)

Early life and education

Ziegler was born in a U.S. Army post in Heidelberg, Germany, and grew up as the eldest son of a financial manager in the small village of Washington Crossing, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He was named High School Golfer of the Year by the Bucks County Courier Times. In 1985, Ziegler graduated from the Catholic Holy Ghost Preparatory School located in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. He attended Georgetown University, graduating in 1989 with a degree in Government and a minor in Theology and Philosophy. While attending Georgetown, he lettered in golf for three years.

John Ziegler (talk show host)

Ziegler has stated that he "grew up in an incredibly, very strict Roman Catholic family on both sides, my mother and my father's side. I've got numerous aunts who've been in the convent. I went to Catholic high school, Catholic college, as did almost all of my relatives, so, I mean, I'm very steeped in Catholicism". Ziegler is, however, an agnostic, referring to himself as a "recovering Catholic".

John Ziegler (talk show host)

Career

After graduating from college, Ziegler became a sportscaster, moving his way up to a full-time position at WTOV in Ohio. He left the position to write a book about high school football in Steubenville, Ohio, called Dynasty of the Crossroads. After the book, he took a position as a sportscaster at WRAZ in Raleigh, North Carolina, but was fired in 1995 after making what he describes as an "incredibly tame" joke about his belief that O. J. Simpson was guilty.

He worked at various stations before ending up at WWTN in Nashville, Tennessee, where he was fired after having said the word "nigger" on the air. Ziegler has explained this event as him referencing what the boxer Mike Tyson said at a press conference, where Tyson referred to himself using that word. He then began writing columns for The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News and co-hosted a talk show on Comcast's CN8 Television Network, which later resulted in his winning a regional Emmy.

In 2002, wanting to return to radio, Ziegler was hired by Louisville, Kentucky, radio station WHAS. Once again, his tenure did not last long, as during a Ask John Anything segment, he discussed Darcie Divita, a former LA Lakers cheerleader and WDRB morning television host with whom Ziegler had a relationship until Divita broke up with him.

In 2003, while still employed by WHAS, he joined forces with Louisville Democrat and current 3rd district Congressional Representative John Yarmuth to debate political issues on the weekly WAVE program Yarmuth & Ziegler, with Yarmuth taking the progressive side and Ziegler the conservative side. This gig lasted through November of that year. In 2006, Ziegler supported the Yarmuth election campaign for Kentucky's 3rd congressional district, both financially and as a political adviser. Yarmuth won the election to Congress, defeating his incumbent Republican opponent Anne Northup.

On January 12, 2004, Ziegler began work at KFI as a late evening host. As both WHAS and KFI are owned by Clear Channel, this placed him in the unusual situation of having been fired and re-hired by the same company within a short time frame. He moved to the 7-10 p.m. slot on February 21, 2005. In November 2007, he left KFI.

The John Ziegler Show

KFI AM 640

John Ziegler was the evening (7-10 PM) host of a radio talk show called The John Ziegler Show on KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles, California from January 12, 2004, until November 13, 2007.

The program was mostly news-based political commentary, but it also brought up other issues such as events happening in Ziegler's personal life. The John Ziegler Show was advertised as Getting it Right at Night and a common catchphrase that Ziegler used to describe the show was "three hours of rationality in a world of ever increasing insanity".

Ziegler was suspended for two days in 2006 following an on-air confrontation with John Kobylt of KFI's John and Ken Show. On November 13, 2007, the day after he announced his departure from KFI, Ziegler broadcast his last show. He told a reporter that the decision was due to mental and physical exhaustion, and to his work on a documentary.