Willis Bennett Ballance (October 27, 1918 – September 23, 2004) was an American

radio talk show Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, interviews wi ...

host. Ballance was born in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

, and studied

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

before serving in the

United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

., Retrieved 2013-5-30. He had radio station stints in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

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and

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. In the early 1950s his "Ballance of the Night" hosted celebrities on KNX in Los Angeles."KNX Spans 7 Decades of Los Angeles Radio History"
''Los Angeles Radio Guide'', November/December 1995, pages 22-26. Ballance was the evening Top 40 personality in the late 1950s to early '60s on #1-rated KFWB in Los Angeles. In 1971, Ballance’s “Feminine Forum” radio show was launched on KGBS in L.A. The provocative show became one of the top rated shows in L.A. He is known as the forerunner to "

shock jock A shock jock is a radio broadcaster or DJ who entertains listeners and attracts attention using humor or melodramatic exaggeration that may offend some portion of the listening audience. The term is used pejoratively to describe provocative or ...

s" like Tom Leykis and

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster and media personality. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1 ...

, having been accused of exploiting women's rights activists who called in to his show. The ''Feminine Forum'' was dropped in 1973, and he began the ''Bill Ballance Show''. He left Los Angeles in 1978 and went to KFMB in San Diego, where he remained for fifteen years. While his early years in

were successful from a ratings standpoint, his core audience was much smaller than what he had in Los Angeles. Ballance continued his practice of mixing open-topic callers with various in-studio guests (

psychologists A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how ...

like Vince and Sally Huntington, counselors,

physicians A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

, etc.), as well as his own hand-written monologues. By the late 1980s, however, his popularity began to wane. As other talk show hosts copied and changed the "

" format, and as the format itself began to evolve into racier topics and discussions, the "Bill Ballance Show" began to seem tame by comparison. He retired from radio in 1993, after more than 50 years in the industry. Ballance caused another stir in 1998, when a judge ruled that nude images of Dr. Laura Schlessinger could continue to be posted on a website. Ballance had sold the pictures to Internet Entertainment Group for $50,000.00 because he had been snubbed by Schlessinger at a Beverly Hills luncheon honoring her. He claimed that they were the product of a 1970s affair between himself and Schlessinger, while Schlessinger was married. Schlessinger admitted the affair but claimed she was legally separated and had filed for

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

from her first husband at the time of their affair. Ballance was 28 years older than Schlessinger. Ballance appeared on television in the episode "Lover's Quarrel" of the 1973 ABC

situation comedy A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

'' A Touch of Grace'', playing himself.tvguide.com A Touch of Grace Episode Detail Lover's Quarrel
/ref> Ballance also appeared in the 1975 ''

Barnaby Jones ''Barnaby Jones'' is an American detective fiction, detective television series starring Buddy Ebsen as a formerly retired investigator and Lee Meriwether as his widowed daughter-in-law. They run a private detective firm in Los Angeles, Califor ...

'' episode "Fatal Witness" as fictional talk show host Bill Edwards. After undergoing quadruple bypass surgery and suffering a stroke in June 2002, Ballance died on September 23, 2004.

References

External links

Bill Ballance "Official Site"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballance, Bill 1918 births 2004 deaths American talk radio hosts Radio personalities from Denver Radio personalities from Los Angeles Radio personalities from San Diego Radio personalities from San Francisco People from Peoria, Illinois University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Media alumni United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II