[Ole Glory]

June 22, 2009 3:00 AM

Talk show host Al Rantel to leave KABC

By GARY LYCAN

Special To The RegisterStory Highlights

The radio personality has been plagued by health issues since 2007.

Article Videos KABC/790 AM talk show host Al Rantel will do his final broadcast June 25, the station has confirmed.

Rantel has suffered several health issues since 2007 when he was diagnosed with lymphoma. After four months of chemotherapy, Rantel reported he was cancer free and returned to the air in spring of 2008.

KABC talk show host Al Rantel, who has been bothered by hip and shoulder pain after falling last year, will leave the station and move to Vancouver to receive therapy and rehabilitation.

In the summer of 2008, Rantel reported he slipped on an oil puddle in his apartment complex parking lot. Following hip and shoulder surgery, he returned to the air but when the pain got worse last January, he saw his surgeon and learned the hip repair did not work and he needed a total hip replacement.

As the pain worsened, he had to leave the air and since then has been replaced by several hosts, including Marc Germain and Peter Tilden, but most often John Phillips, who will temporarily take over Rantel's 6 to 11 p.m. program after Rantel's farewell broadcast Thursday.

Rantel told LARadio.com's Don Barrett he is moving to Vancouver to receive therapy and rehabilitation. In the Barrett interview, he said, "When I'm in a seated position for a long time I start getting a burning in the muscles and in the rotary cup. I told the doctors that even with the Vicodin and Celebrex and all this crap they have me on, I'm still in pain. I don't want to take more pain medication. I was in so much pain I had to go on anti-depressants because it was so debilitating, which I've never had to take because I'm such a sunshiny guy, if I do say so myself. So in fairness to my fans and the brand that I've built over the years, I've decided to step away for now."