The Group Room-the world's largest cancer support group-had been broadcast in Los Angeles on KRLA-AM 1110-until the station recently changed formats from talk radio to all sports. The program airs live every Sunday, reaching more than half-a-million radio listeners a week in addition to its worldwide Internet audience. The KLSX broadcast is being made possible through the regional sponsorship of City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif.

"We are very proud and privileged to be serving our audience with a program as diverse and informative as The Group Room," said Bob Moore, vice president and general manger of Infinity Broadcasting's KLSX, the FM Talk Station. "We live in an age where cancer has affected almost all of us in some way and yet we are starving for information about how to deal with the disease." "It's great that KLSX has been able to return The Group Room to the airwaves in Los Angeles," said George Green, president of George Green Enterprises and a radio-broadcasting veteran. "The Group Room is one of the best radio shows on the air and it's reassuring to see there are station general managers who understand it's good business to serve the community."

"We're so glad to be back on the air in Los Angeles," said Selma R. Schimmel, host of The Group Room and founder and CEO of Vital Options® International TeleSupport® Cancer Network, the international not-for-profit cancer communications, support and advocacy organization that produces the show in association with Premiere Radio Networks, the nation's largest radio syndicator.

"The Group Room and Vital Options may now have an international focus, but Los Angeles is still our home and it's very important for us to be able to interact directly with our listeners here," she added.

The show has been nationally syndicated since February 1996 and in addition to broadcasting from Premiere's studios in Sherman Oaks, frequently produces live remote broadcasts from leading oncology meetings and cancer centers throughout the world.

This past June, The Group Room may have made radio history by producing a show about breast and prostate cancer broadcast simultaneously in English and French from three cities (Los Angeles, New York and Paris, France) on two continents. During the last several months, The Group Room has broadcast in English from Hamburg, Germany; London, England; and Paris, France, as well as various cities in the United States.

Schimmel's on-air medical experts in Los Angeles include: The Group Room's medical oncologist Dr. Michael Van Scoy-Mosher, radiation oncologist Dr. Leslie Botnick and therapist Halina Irving, MFCC.

All phone calls to The Group Room are screened by a licensed oncology social worker. Callers can enter discussions by dialing 1-800-GRP-ROOM (1-800-477-7666). During the week, individuals can reach Vital Options for support or to receive more information about cancer resources or stations carrying the broadcast.

Founded in 1983 when Schimmel was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 28, Vital Options was the first organization to address issues related to young adults with cancer before expanding to include issues and information related to everyone touched by cancer. In 2001, Vital Options was officially renamed Vital Options International to reflect its international expansion.

Headquartered in southern California, Vital Options International and The Group Room are supported through educational grants from founding sponsor Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and corporate sponsors Ortho Biotech Products, L.P., Pharmacia Oncology and Genentech BioOncology Inc.

Ortho Biotech Products, L.P., and Pharmacia Oncology are also the leading sponsors of Vital Options International's growth in the European market.