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William Wolf Handel (born August 25, 1951) is a Brazilian-born American radio host and attorney. Handel currently hosts two radio programs on KFI in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. First is KFI's local morning
drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...
show, in which he comments on current events. The program is one of the top rated morning programs in the Los Angeles radio market, with more than 1 million listeners. Additionally, he hosts a legal advice show on weekends called ''Handel on the Law'', which launched in 1985 and is syndicated by
Premiere Radio Networks Premiere Networks, Inc. (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American Mass media, media company, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original Radio broadcasting, radio content distribut ...
, co-owned with KFI by iHeartMedia, Inc. Handel on the Law is heard on more than 150 stations in the U.S. He was also the director and founder of the Center for Surrogate Parenting. His legal show is currently his longest running radio program to date. Both of Handel's shows played across the U.S. on the
America's Talk America's Talk was a talk radio channel available exclusively on iHeartRadio. Owned by Clear Channel Broadcasting, Inc., America's Talk featured terrestrial radio show simulcasts and tape delay broadcasts from across the United States. Adver ...
channel 158 on
XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable ...
. In 2008, Handel's shows were discontinued by XM Radio when it merged with
Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio ( SDARS) service that operated in the United States and Canada. Sirius launched in 2002, and primarily competed with XM Satellite Radio, until the two services merged in 2008 to form Sirius XM. Li ...
.


Early life and career

Handel was born in Brazil. His father Leo was from Yugoslavia, and his mother Nechama was a
Polish Jew The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...
who grew up in Brazil. Handel's paternal grandparents were killed in the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
. The Handel family emigrated to the U.S. when Bill was five years old. He spent the remainder of his formative years growing up in the
San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...
. He attended
California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...
where he obtained his bachelor's degree in political science in 1976. He then started a construction company and attended the Whittier College School of Law at night, graduating with his J.D. in 1979. Around his graduation from law school, Handel became addicted to cocaine. In 1983, Handel underwent rehabilitation at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. Later in the 1980s, Handel provided counsel for legal cases around surrogate parenting and founded the Center for Surrogate Parenting & Egg Donation. In 1994, he hosted a weekly syndicated television show, ''Judge For Yourself'', which was canceled due to low ratings and the lack of time in Handel's schedule. ''Judge For Yourself'' was unique in that it solicited comments from a 900 number, whose results would be broadcast on the next day's show. He underwent
bariatric surgery Bariatric surgery (also known as metabolic surgery or weight loss surgery) is a surgical procedure used to manage obesity and obesity-related conditions. Long term weight loss with bariatric surgery may be achieved through alteration of gut ho ...
at Centinela Freeman Hospital to lose weight. Handel's experiences with this surgical procedure have been documented in a series of segments on his morning radio show.


Radio work

Handel joined 640 KFI Los Angeles in 1989 doing a weekend legal show called "Handel On The Law." On July 16, 1993, Handel began broadcasting a talk and information wake up show, replacing the prior morning team. Prior to January 2014, ''The Bill Handel Show'' aired from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., and was heavily news based. The first hour was primarily discussion of Handel's personal life, letters to the show, and banter with other staffers. The light banter in the 5 a.m. hour was cut when, in January 2014, the show moved to 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. time slot. It was later reduced to three hours, ending at 9:00 a.m. On April 15, 1994, Handel hosted a Holocaust themed show live from
Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
, where his grandparents were killed. He planned on having two white nationalist guests including John Metzger, but the two guests were deported from Germany before they could appear on the show. The show now begins with the ''Handel on the News'', a summary of the morning's top stories delivered with Handel's commentary, with appropriate music cues starting each story and playing "under" his delivery. In the second and third hour, Handel has guests to discuss topics in the news. He often covers a single news story or item of interest for a half-hour, summarizing various other perspectives and offering his own opinion. ''Handel on the News: Late Edition'' airs at 8:30 am, is a condensed version of the 6 am hour, and includes stories not covered in the earlier version.Carney, Steve. "Humor, issues and a cause; Bill Handel's talk show is tops with morning listeners, but he is most proud of his support of surrogate parenting." ''Los Angeles Times'', August 15, 2003. On his weekend show, ''Handel on the Law'', he gives terse "marginal legal advice" designed to point callers in the right direction. He often makes fun of callers for getting themselves into their legal predicament, stating bluntly, "you have absolutely no case." Still, the show is informative in that it deals with many common legal problems, such as
landlord A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord appli ...
- tenant and real estate issues, automobile accidents,
child custody Child custody is a legal term regarding '' guardianship'' which is used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person's care. Child custody consists of ''legal custody'', which is the ri ...
, and divorce in an easy-to-understand way. The show is heard Saturday mornings on KFI, but affiliate stations may air it at any time during the weekend. From September 8, 2009 to February 12, 2010, Handel aired an additional show from noon to 2 p.m. on KFI after Dr.
Laura Schlessinger Laura Catherine Schlessinger (born January 16, 1947), commonly known as Dr. Laura, is an American talk radio host and author. ''The Dr. Laura Program'', heard weekdays for three hours on Sirius XM Radio, consists mainly of her responses to call ...
moved from KFI to another Los Angeles talk station, 980
KFWB KFWB (980 AM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. KFWB is owned by Lotus Communications, and airs a classic regional Mexican music radio format. The station has a colorful history, being the radio voice of Warner Bros. ...
. Handel's afternoon show was syndicated to a handful of affiliates, though
Premiere Radio Networks Premiere Networks, Inc. (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American Mass media, media company, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original Radio broadcasting, radio content distribut ...
did not aggressively market the show. (It aired at the same time as the much more prominent ''
The Sean Hannity Show ''The Sean Hannity Show'' is a conservative talk radio show hosted by Sean Hannity. The program is broadcast live every weekday, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET. The show is produced in the New York City studios of radio station WOR and is transmitt ...
''.) Handel quit the show after five months. On
September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, Handel was on air live when the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center took place. Most of the Clear Channel FM music stations in Los Angeles switched over to a live feed of Handel's show as news reports and further attacks unfolded. At that time, Rush Limbaugh's show normally would follow ''The Bill Handel Show'' on KFI. Not only was Limbaugh on a plane heading to a golf tournament that day, but telecommunications systems were also devastated in New York, where his show was based at that time. Handel continued to broadcast for another three hours, taking the place of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' on most stations in the country (as well as the taped broadcast for Armed Forces Radio overseas). This led Handel to guest host on two more occasions on ''The Rush Limbaugh Show''.


Awards and honors

On September 23, 2005, Handel was named "Major Market Personality of the Year" at the 2005 NAB Marconi Radio Awards for his KFI show. During his acceptance speech, Handel said, “I haven't been this affected since my circumcision. Seriously, I'm proud and honored to be singled out for this incredible award.” On March 15, 2008 he was honored with "Local News/Talk/Sports Personality of the Year" by industry trade publication ''
Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...
'' for the third time, his second being in 2007, and the first in 2005. Handel received the Distinguished Alumni Award from CSUN (Cal State University at Northridge) on April 26, 2008. The alumni association of his ''alma mater'', Whittier Law School, awarded him the "Humanitarian of the Year Award" on April 25, 2009. Handel says he has no idea why he was given this award. On June 19, 2008, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's Walk of Fame Committee announced that Handel would be one of 25 people the following year to receive a Star on the "
Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...
." His star was unveiled on June 12, 2009, and is located at 6640 Hollywood Boulevard. Handel was inducted into the "
National Radio Hall of Fame The Radio Hall of Fame, formerly the National Radio Hall of Fame, is an American organization created by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988. Three years later, Bruce DuMont, founder, president, and CEO of the Museum of Broadcast Communicati ...
" on November 2, 2017, in a ceremony at the
Museum of Broadcast Communications The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an American museum that showcases historic and contemporary radio and television content. It is headquartered in Chicago. Museum locations (1987–present) The Museum of Broadcast Communications wa ...
in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
.


Controversies

In 1996,
Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for ...
leaders called for Handel's resignation after making comments about
Kristi Yamaguchi Kristine Tsuya Yamaguchi (born July 12, 1971) is an American former competitive figure skater, author and philanthropist. A former competitor in women's singles, Yamaguchi is the Figure skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics, 1992 Olympic champion, ...
and
Michelle Kwan Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired American competitive figure skating, figure skater and diplomat who served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Belize, United States Ambassador to Belize from 2022 to 2025. In ...
. Handel was quoted as saying; "And when I look at a box of Wheaties, all right? I don't want to see eyes that are like all slanted and Oriental and almond shaped. I want American eyes looking at me." Handel apologized, claiming that he was mocking bigotry. In March 2004, Handel made jokes about Muslims not bathing, hating Jews, and practicing bestiality. KFI was forced to apologize. On January 12, 2006, Handel joked that Muslim pilgrims to
Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
should hire traffic reporters to reduce the possibility of deadly
incidents during the Hajj There have been numerous incidents during the Hajj. The Muslim pilgrimage to the cities of Mecca and Medina, that have caused loss of life. Every follower of Islam is required to perform the Hajj in Mecca at least once in their lifetime, if able t ...
. The Council on American-Islamic Relations demanded an apology. Handel offered to apologize on the condition that CAIR would denounce terrorism, agree that Israel is a sovereign country, and claim it does not have ties with terrorists. CAIR did not take him up on his offer. Handel refused to apologize to CAIR, but did apologize to the actual victims of the Hajj stampede. Shortly after the Hajj incident, Michelle Kube began to close each show with an all-encompassing apology covering nearly every group mentioned during the course of the show. It is intended to be funny and draw attention to the numerous groups and individuals Handel makes reference to who might be offended. The apology closes with the statement "and any and all...groups that might possibly have been offended during the broadcast of this show." On December 15, 2006, KFI suspended Handel for one week after an on-air shouting match with Jamie White on FM
sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
98.7
KYSR KYSR (98.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, and owned by iHeartMedia. KYSR broadcasts an alternative rock format and is the flagship station of ''The Woody Show''. KYSR's studios are located in Burbank, whi ...
. White allegedly told one of Handel's daughters to "get out" of his studio. Handel later apologized, claiming he lost his temper and had overreacted without having all the facts. Jamie White later said publicly as a guest on 97.1 KLSX (now
KNX-FM KNX-FM (97.1 MHz, "KNX News 97.1 FM") is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, United States. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs an all-news radio format in a full-time simulcast with KNX (1070 AM). The station has ...
) that she understood Handel's reaction as a parent and that she and Handel had seen each other months later at a radio event and "were fine." On May 13, 2009, Handel commented on a show about health care that the U.S. government should "euthanize old people," "sell Glendale to get rid of the
Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
ns" and "get rid of the Irish and the Italians too." These comments were followed up the next day when a listener sent a letter requesting an apology for the remarks he made. After reading his letter aloud, his board operator, Lara Hermanson, joked that "what the Turks started, Bill will finish" referencing the
Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...
. KFI AM 640 Program Director Robin Bertolucci apologized and maintained that Handel was "clearly engaging in parody and hyperbole to point out the absurdity of genocide as a solution to rising health care costs. No one was actually advocating hatred against Armenians. The comments were obviously said in jest, in the same breath with advocating euthanasia for the elderly and genocide for the Jews. The comments made were solely mocking the idea of genocide and weren't intended to be about Armenians any more than they were about euthanasia for the elderly." On June 11, 2009, a formal apology was issued by Handel and Hermanson for their comments.


Personal life

On March 20, 2025, Bill married his second wife Lyndsay Soprano-Handel in Italy. Handel has a brother, Mark Handel, a real estate developer. Handel's brother was in 2022 accused of producing hardcore pornography, featuring slapping, choking and verbal abuse, under the name 'Khan Tusion'.


References


External links

*
Handel at KFI 640 AM
{{DEFAULTSORT:Handel, Bill 1951 births Living people American people of Yugoslav descent American people of Polish-Jewish descent American talk radio hosts Brazilian emigrants to the United States Brazilian people of Polish-Jewish descent California lawyers California State University, Northridge alumni Lawyers from Los Angeles Whittier Law School alumni Radio personalities from Los Angeles