Bill Ballance was forerunner of shock jocks
Associated PressSeptember 26, 2004*

SAN DIEGO -- Bill Ballance, a radio personality whose bold 1970s talk show
tackled relationships and sex and helped pave the way for today's shock jocks,
has died at age 85.
Ballance died at home Thursday, according to his son, Jim. He had been in
failing health.
Ballance's "Feminine Forum" became one of the most popular radio shows in Los
Angeles after it debuted in 1971 on KGBS-AM.
Racy and confessional, the show drew many listeners, both male and female, with
topics such as "Where did his love go and how did you know it was gone?" and
"Are you a red-hot mama?"
"Feminine Forum" provoked anger among women's rights activists, who accused
Ballance of exploiting callers.
"The 'Feminine Forum' was really the forerunner to radio's Tom Leykis and
Howard Stern," said Don Barrett, executive editor of LARadio.com.
In the late 1990s, Ballance caused another stir when he sold nude photographs
of radio therapist Laura Schlessinger to a company that posted the photos on
the Internet. Schlessinger, who had been a regular on Ballance's show, was
outraged.