Les Crane was a radio announcer and television talk show host who became famous in the 1960s for his controversial and innovative style of interactive broadcasting. He also scored a spoken word hit with his 1971 recording of the poem Desiderata, winning a “Best Spoken Word” Grammy. He died on July 13, 2008, at the age of 74, of natural causes. Here is a brief overview of his life and career, as well as the details of his death.
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Early Life and Education
Les Crane was born as Lesley Stein on December 3, 1933, in New York City. He graduated from Tulane University, where he was an English major. He spent four years in the United States Air Force, as a jet pilot and helicopter flight instructor.
Radio Career
He began his radio career in 1958 at KONO in San Antonio and later worked at WPEN (now WKDN) in Philadelphia. In 1961, he became a popular and controversial host for the radio powerhouse KGO in San Francisco. With KGO’s strong nighttime 50,000 watt signal reaching as far north as Seattle, and as far south as Los Angeles, he attracted a regional audience in the West. Variety described him as “the popular, confrontational and sometimes controversial host of San Francisco’s KGO. Helping to pioneer talk radio, he was outspoken and outraged some callers by hanging up on them.” A late-night program airing weekdays from 11pm to 2am, Crane at the hungry i (1962–63) found Crane interacting with owner and impresario Enrico Banducci and interviewing such talents as Barbra Streisand and Professor Irwin Corey. Crane, along with KRLA general manager John Barrett, were the original people “responsible for creating the Top 40 (list of the most requested pop songs),” said Casey Kasem in a 1990 interview.
Television Career
In 1963, Crane moved to New York City to host Night Line, a 1:00 a.m. talk show on WABC-TV, the American Broadcasting Company’s flagship station. The first American TV appearance of The Rolling Stones was on Crane’s program in June 1964 when only New Yorkers could see it. The program debuted nationwide with a trial run (telecast nightly for a week) in August 1964 starting at 11:15 p.m. on the ABC schedule and titled The New Les Crane Show. It originated in a television studio in midtown Manhattan. Each episode was videotaped in advance, not live, with the length of the delay unknown decades later because research was not done when first-hand sources were alive. The New Les Crane Show was the first network program to compete with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which originated in New York prior to 1972, also with a videotaped delay before each telecast. Though short-lived, Crane’s more hard-hitting program did score a number of prime, albeit sometimes controversial, guests. In 1964, he welcomed the Rolling Stones for the band’s first U.S. TV appearance and, the following year, had a rare TV visit from Bob Dylan. However, his guest list also included notable figures of the day such as civil rights leader Malcolm X and pro-segregation former Alabama governor and one-time presidential candidate George Wallace.
Music Career
Crane also dabbled in film and TV acting, but his most successful venture outside of broadcasting was his 1971 spoken word recording of Desiderata, an inspirational poem popular during the 1960s counterculture movement. The recording reached the Top Ten in the autumn of 1971, and even won a Grammy Award in the spoken word recording category. The recording spawned a popular National Lampoon parody that Crane later claimed he preferred over his own.
Software Career
Later, he left the media and entertainment industry and eventually landed in the budding computer software business. Crane headed up the successful developing and publishing firm The Software Toolworks and helped develop widely used programs like the Chessmaster games and the Mavis Beacon typing series.
Personal Life and Death
Crane was married five times, with one of his wives being Gilligan’s Island actress Tina Louise, the mother of his daughter Caprice. He is survived by his wife, Ginger Crane. He died on July 13, 2008, of natural causes at a hospital north of San Francisco. His daughter Caprice said that he had been ill for some time before his death. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered over Tomales Bay.
Conclusion
Les Crane was a pioneer in radio and television talk shows who challenged the status quo and introduced new formats and topics to the audiences. He also had a successful career in music and software, winning a Grammy and creating popular programs. He died in 2008 of natural causes, leaving behind a legacy of innovation and controversy.
