Bill Ballance
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bill Ballance (born 1918 in Peoria, Illinois, died September 23, 2004), or Willis Ballance, was an American radio talk show host.
Ballance studied journalism at the University of Illinois before serving in the United States Marines. He had radio station stints in Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and San Diego. In Los Angeles, on KGBS-AM, Ballance became well known as the host of the "Feminine Forum" radio show, which he managed beginning in 1971. He is known as the forerunner to "shock jocks" Tom Leykis and Howard Stern, having been accused of exploiting women's rights activists who called in to his show.
"Feminine Forum" was dropped in 1973, and he began the "Bill Ballance Show." He retired from radio in 1993.
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 them to a company and 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 from her first husband at the time of their affair. Ballance was approximately 30 years older than Schlessinger.
After undergoing quadruple bypass surgery and suffering a stroke in June 2002, Ballance died September 23, 2004.
