Springer was born in East Finchley tube station, London, England in 1944. His parents, Margot and Richard Springer, were Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. In January 1949, he emigrated to the United States, settling in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York. He attended Forest Hills High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Tulane University in 1965, majoring in political science. He earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Northwestern University in 1968. He then became a political campaign aide to Robert F. Kennedy; after Kennedy's assassination, he joined the Cincinnati law firm of Frost & Jacobs, now Frost Brown Todd.
In 1970, Springer ran for Congress, but failed to unseat incumbent Republican Donald D. Clancy, garnering 45% of the vote. He had previously spearheaded the effort to lower the voting age, and had testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of ratification of the 26th Amendment. Yes,...all this from the Jerry Springer we know and love.
The Jerry Springer Show debuted on 20 September 1991. It was developed by WLWT-TV to replace its Phil Donahue Show. It started as a politically oriented talk show, a longer version of Springer's commentaries. Guests included Oliver North and Jesse Jackson, and topics included homelessness and gun politics.
Springer revamped the format of the show in order to garner higher ratings. The show became more and more successful as it became more and more lowbrow, with an emphasis on infidelity. Its guests are typically lower class, minimally-educated, blue collar people confronted on a television stage with a spouse or family member's adultery, homosexuality, prostitution, transvestism, hate group membership, or other such situations. These confrontations often lead to profane shouting, chair-throwing, fist-fights, and removal of clothing. The show picked up and garnered huge ratings and lots of attention.


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