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Morton Downey, Jr. (born Sean Morton Downey; December 9, 1933 - March 12, 2001) was an American television talk show host of the 1980s who pioneered the "trash TV" format. In the 1980s, Downey was working as a talk show host at KFBK-AM in Sacramento, California, where he established his abrasive and much imitated right wing, populist style, relentlessly deriding anyone who disagreed with him or had a liberal point of view. Downey`s success, coupled with the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, laid the groundwork for more aggressive, opinion-based talk radio. His work led to the "trash talk" genre of Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, Ricki Lake, Steve Wilkos and many more. His fight with fellow radio talk show host Wally George (with each charging that the other was not conservative) on George`s talk show led to police tackling Downey to the ground. The man who succeeded Downey at KFBK was Rush Limbaugh. However, Downey`s largest effect on American culture came from his very popular, yet short-lived, syndicated mid-1980s television talk show, The Morton Downey Jr. Show. Downey headed to Secaucus, New Jersey where his highly controversial television program The Morton Downey Jr. Show was taped for two years before it was canceled for low ratings. The program featured screaming matches among Downey, his guests, and his audience members. Using a large silver bowl for an ashtray, he would chainsmoke during the show and blow smoke in his guests` faces. The bowl was actually the Peabody Award that he had received earlier in his career. Downey`s fans became known as "Loudmouths", patterned after the studio lecterns decorated with gaping cartoon mouths, from which Downey`s guests would go head-to-head against each other on their respective issues. In 1993, Downey attempted a comeback in talk radio on Dallas radio station KGBS, where he would scream insults at his callers. He was also hired as the station`s VP of Operations. The following year he had a short-lived television show, Downey on CNBC, that was similar in theme to his earlier, more popular show. In one episode, Downey claimed to have had a psychic communication with O.J. Simpson`s murdered ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.

Downey was married four times and had four children from three of those marriages. With wife Helen he had Melissa, with Joan he had daughters Tracey and Kelli, and with fourth wife and widow Lori he had Seanna. He and Lori met when she appeared as a dancer in a show he attended in Atlantic City. In 1996, Downey was diagnosed with lung cancer and had one of his lungs removed. He did a complete about-face on tobacco use, going from a one-time member of the National Smokers Alliance to a staunch anti-smoking activist. He continued to speak against smoking until his death from lung cancer in 2001.