Michael Robin Jackson MBE (16 April 1934 – 15 January 2022) was a British-American talk radio host and occasional actor.

Jackson is best known for his radio show which covered arts, politics, and human interest subjects, particularly in the Los Angeles and greater Southern California area in the era before "shock jocks".

Jackson had always wanted to be on the radio in Los Angeles, but first, he worked in cities like San Francisco, where he did a Top-40 show for station KYA.

[1] The police regularly monitored his show, with his permission, so they could trace the calls of the occasional listener who expressed suicidal thoughts and make sure the person was okay.

[citation needed] The Time article and other favourable publicity earned him some offers, and Jackson was finally hired in Los Angeles, where he briefly did the 7 p.m.-to-midnight shift at KHJ.

Radio and TV critic Don Page of the Los Angeles Times took notice of him almost immediately, saying he was a "good talker and a patient listener," with an "elegant and flexible" command of the language.

[7] At that time, KABC broadcast the Joe Pyne show, and in the mid-1970s, when Jackson beat him in the ratings, he told a reporter that this proved "you do not have to be rude to be successful.

Jackson liked to book his own guests, and he became well known for talking to interesting news makers from all around the world, ranging from Richard Nixon's former counsel Charles Colson to economist Milton Friedman to Israeli military leader Moshe Dayan.

KABC's management ultimately felt Jackson's style no longer fitted with the modern "in your face" talk shows, the vast majority of which were conservative.

[citation needed] Jackson would return to radio, finding employment at KRLA (1110 AM), where he secured good ratings, but was still not able to beat Limbaugh.

They had recently changed their format from oldies to all-talk, and station management felt that because he was so well known in Los Angeles, Jackson would be able to attract new listeners.

But he chose not to renew his contract, citing a lack of a regular time-slot as well as frustration when his long and thorough interviews were edited down into two-minute snippets.

Jackson filled in for regular host Patt Morrison on her KPCC (National Public Radio affiliate at Pasadena, California) show on 18–19 July 2011.

[citation needed] Jackson died at his home in Los Angeles following a long battle with Parkinson's disease, on 15 January 2022, at the age of 87.