Larry King Announces He is Ending His Prime-Time CNN show

Larry King, whose nightly CNN talk show was long a required stomping ground for striving politicians and contrite celebrities, announced Tuesday that he is going to step down from the program in the fall.

The 76-year-old will not be leaving CNN altogether: He signed a new contract to host quarterly specials on the cable news channel.

But his departure from prime time marks a major turning point for CNN, which has built its schedule around ”Larry King Live” for 25 of the network’s 30 years on the air. This year, however, the program has seen a sharp fall-off in audience. An average of 677,000 viewers tuned in during the second quarter of 2010, down 37% from the same period last year, according to Nielsen.