Lyle Gregory, Jackson’s close friend and producer for 30 years, confirmed his death to ‘Variety’. It was a testament to Michael, that so many of the guests and celebrities preferred to actually come in the studio, rather than do phoners, Gregory said in a statement.

Famous talk radio personality, 87-year-old Michael Robin Jackson, died on Saturday at his California residence.

Jackson, who broadcast for more than 32 years at KABC Radio in Los Angeles, had been battling Parkinson’s disease for the past decade, reports ‘Variety’.

Lyle Gregory, Jackson’s close friend and producer for 30 years, confirmed his death to ‘Variety’. “It was a testament to Michael, that so many of the guests and celebrities preferred to actually come in the studio, rather than do phoners,” Gregory said in a statement.

He added, “With his British accent and boyhood charm, Michael made people comfortable, they opened up. That was his gift. Michael molded an interview into conversation, news and information. Like two people sitting at a kitchen table talking. A table, an open window, where millions tuned in daily across the nation, so many of them referring to Michael as their personal university.”

Jackson was born April 16, 1934 in England and was first raised in the British Isles during World War II post which his family relocated to South Africa and, later, the United States. Jackson began his stateside career in radio working as a DJ in San Francisco at KYA and KEWB before moving to Los Angeles to work at KHJ and news station KNX.