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Lionel
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Lionel, the man named one of “The 100 Most Important Talk Show Hosts in America” by Talkers Magazine (#23), was born Michael William LeBron in Tampa where he attended Jesuit High School. Before getting into radio, he attended and graduated from the University of South Florida and the Stetson University College of Law, and then served as a trial lawyer for the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office.
He began his radio career in 1988 doing weekends on WFLA, although he’d had an earlier offer to join rival WPLP, which he declined. The following year, his show moved to the weekday 9 A.M. to 12 P.M. slot. Seven months after that, he was promoted to afternoon drive.
In 1993, Lionel was hired away by New York City’s WABC after former ABC network president Jim Arcara heard his show while vacationing in Florida and made him a lucrative offer to move to the Big Apple.
After a number of successful years doing local talk radio, special reports for the ABC radio network and New York’s WCBS, and hosting “Snap Judgment” on Court TV, a longtime dream of his was fulfilled in 2000 when “The Lionel Show” began national syndication. In May 2007, he signed on to host a daily three-hour talk show on Air America Radio, remaining with the network until it closed on January 2010.
Today (2012), Lionel is a part of the morning drive show with former WFLA stable mate Al Gardner at WWIQ in Philadelphia. He also anchors an early morning news program on New York’s WPIX-TV and, additionally, has been operating the digital media station LionelMedia.com for the past several years.
Station History
1988 - 1993 Other Tampa Bay Area Stations (Featured Program)
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