In August 1982, George Green, head of KABC Radio (until 1996), invited me to moderate the radio station's two-hour Sunday night show on religion, Religion on the Line. He had mentioned to Roberta Weintraub, well known Los Angeles activist and head of the Los Angeles Board of Education, that he was looking for a new moderator for Religion on the Line.

He wanted someone who knew how to speak, knew religion, and who wasn't a member of the clergy. Roberta had attended a weekend at BBI, and suggested my name. I am eternally indebted to Roberta Weintraub.

Religion on the Line features a moderator moderating among a Protestant minister, a Roman Catholic priest and a rabbi - different ones each Sunday night, from 10:00 PM to Midnight. The night I tried out I was extremely nervous. I knew how important this try out would be for me, as I ached to get my message out to far more people. The program director sat next to me for both hours (I didn't have any idea of how to work the buttons for the calls). A little after 11:00 PM, he slipped me a note with among the sweetest words I was ever told - "Tell them you'll be back next week." And the next week, and the next week, and the next week, for exactly 10 years - until my last Religion on the Line in August, 1992.

In 1985-86 I began a nightly show (except Friday, because of the Sabbath) from 7:00 to 9:00 PM in addition to Religion on the Line on Sunday nights.

Though it was rated number one, my weeknight show was removed in August 1986 for a cooking show. KABC felt that a cooking show would bring in more advertising revenue thanks to supermarket and other food-related ads.The station was wrong, and that show didn't last long - but I never went back to broadcasting during those hours.

Over the course of the next few years, I was given an increasing amount of radio time. First, an hour on Sunday night prior to Religion on the Line, then another hour, and then yet another hour. I ended up broadcasting for five hours - 7:00 PM to Midnight - on Sunday nights. Then I was given three hours on Saturday nights - for a total of eight hours on weekend nights. KABC's Saturday and Sunday night listeners who didn't like me must have been quite annoyed with how much I was on.

In 1992, George Green asked me if I would like to have a nightly show on KABC. I was, believe it or not, reluctant to say yes to this wonderful opportunity. I loved being home with my wife and children every day except when I went on the road lecturing; and I loved a life of writing lecturing, and weekend radio. But I agreed, and in August, 1992, exactly ten years after doing my first Religion on the Line, I moderated my final Religion on the Line - alone with no guests. I took calls and delivered my valedictory address, telling my listeners how much Religion on the Line had meant to me (I still miss doing it). Not once in ten years - over 500 shows - did I ever not look forward to doing the show. And I learned so much about religion and myself. My greatest lesson, I announced, was this: The day you realize that you have met people of other religions whom you believe to be at least as intelligent, at least as religious and at least as moral as you think you are, you will never be the same. I was not the same person that I was prior to beginning my ten years as host of Religion on the Line.

In August, 1992, I began broadcasting weeknights, from 9:00 PM to Midnight (as I would not broadcast on my Sabbath, which begins Friday evenings at sundown, I was allowed to pre-record the first hour of the Friday night show, while the other two hours consisted of highlights of the rest of the week).

Being a night person, I loved broadcasting four nights a week. I could still be home all day, every day.

In November, 1992, Fran and I were blessed with a son, Aaron Henry Prager. This beautiful boy was born on Friday, enabling me not even to miss a night of radio! The house was now quite a lively place, with a 16-year-old, a 9-year-old, and a newborn.

Professionally, things moved rapidly thereafter.
In July of 1993, I began broadcasting during the day, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday. This was tougher - five days a week is very different from four days a week.

In 1994, I added a daily one-hour morning talk show on WABC Radio in New York. To broadcast on the station I grew up listening to, in the city my family lives, was very moving to me. There was a problem, however. I now had to broadcast four hours daily, and much worse, the New York show was on at 10:00 AM New York time, which meant that I had to broadcast at 7:00 AM every day. For a night person, and for someone who wants a lot of free time to write and be with his family, this was becoming problematic.

Things soon got more problematic. In September, 1994, Multimedia (syndicators of the Rush Limbaugh, Jerry Springer and Sally Jesse Raphael TV talk shows), created the Dennis Prager Show. It was broadcast daily throughout the United States (at different times in each city). My weekdays therefore went like this: broadcast on WABC to New York at 7:00 AM; broadcast from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM on KABC in Los Angeles; then go to CBS Studios and tape my television show.

Though I am generally very healthy, this schedule quickly wore me down, and I repeatedly got sick - not to mention the price my family and I paid by having much less time together.

So, in January, 1995 I made the very difficult decision to leave WABC Radio. And by the spring, my TV show had been canceled (in my book Think a Second Time I wrote an essay on what I learned from my time on national television, and why my show didn't stay on).

So, by March, 1995, my media career was back to three hours a day on KABC Radio (now shifted one hour earlier to Noon to 3:00 PM).

On September 15, 1998 I began my first attempt as a morning broadcaster, 9:00 AM - Noon. I was excited about this new time-slot because historically, it had been a spot of particular importance to the station. 

In some ways, it sets the tone. I do admit however that these new hours required some adjustments. I’ve had a lifetime of work never before noon.

On February 1, 1999 We began nationally syndicating my radio show. Now KRLA is my flagship station, broadcasting live across the country, 9:00 AM - Noon (Pacific Time).