In 1973, Oprah Winfrey made television history. At the young age of 19, she became the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor the news on Nashville’s WTVF-TV. After a while there, she moved into a bigger market, anchoring the “ 6:00 News” for Baltimore’s WJZ-TV. Proving to be one of the most popular personalities in that market, Winfrey was then chosen to become co-host of it’s local chat show, “People Are Talking”.
In 1984, Oprah moved on to a bigger market - Chicago – to host their morning talk show “AM Chicago”. She made history once again, as she pulled ahead in the local talk show ratings war, surpassing the ever-dominant “Donahue” show – just one month after Oprah began hosting duties. “AM Chicago” was quickly re-launched as “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1985, and expanded to a daily hour telecast.
In 1986, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” went into national syndication, becoming the highest-rated talk show in America. Twenty years later, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is still the number one talk show on daytime TV, reaching out to an audience averaging 49 million viewers per week, as it’s telecast in 117 countries throughout the world. With her extraordinary achievements in the broadcast and entertainment world, Winfrey has won a plethora of awards. Oprah has been recently named to the National Advancement of Colored People Hall of Fame (2005), and TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in The World” (2005).
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