The Hippest Trip in America comes to an abrupt end....

[AFK]

....and Mr. Don Cornelius has left the station.

http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/01/10288340-soul-train-creator-don-cornelius-commits-suicide

Don Cornelius, creator of the long-running TV dance show "Soul Train," is dead at 75 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Los Angeles police tell the Associated Press.
Cornelius' death was discovered early Wednesday morning at his Sherman Oaks, Calif. home.
Us Weekly reports that when Cornelius was in court in 2009 for divorce proceedings, he complained of "significant health issues."
...