Bold, Idiosyncratic Talk Show Host Tom Snyder, 71

Mr. Snyder was born May 12, 1936, in Milwaukee, and spent his allowance at a store booth where people could record their voices. "I liked doing that," he said.

He attended Marquette University, went on the air in Milwaukee, then in Savannah, Ga., and Kalamazoo, Mich.

He said he left Kalamazoo after burping on the air, and blaming it on food at a nearby restaurant that turned out to belong to the station owner. Gigs followed in Atlanta and Philadelphia, where he was an anchor and talk show host on KYW.

A longtime Philadelphia co-worker, Marciarose Shestack, called him ironic, irreverent, "a little bit arrogant," a communicator who gave the news with "just a little edge."

After he had a spell of anchoring and conducting a Sunday show for NBC, the network gave him "Tomorrow." During its run, he also anchored news for a time and hosted NBC's "Prime Time Sunday."

"Tomorrow" ended amid efforts to add gossip columnist Rona Barrett as a co-host and shift toward the "talk-variety" mode. Mr. Snyder said that broke a rule: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The time slot ultimately went to Letterman.

Mr. Snyder anchored local news in New York, hosted an ABC radio talk show and began a show on the CNBC cable network.

After "Tomorrow," he seemed readier to take risks, Michael Horowicz, a friend and former producer, said last night. "If he thought the viewers ought to know about it, he made sure the viewers knew about it."

Letterman, a big fan, brought Mr. Snyder to CBS for the "Late, Late Show." It was live in the East and simulcast on radio elsewhere. "So settle back," Mr. Snyder urged, "fire up a simultini and watch the pictures fly through the air."

A 1958 marriage ended in divorce in 1975. Survivors include a daughter and two grandchildren.