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Oprah Winfrey's Biography

Television Pioneer

Oprah began her broadcasting career at WVOL radio in Nashville while still in high school.  At the age of 19, she became the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor the news at Nashville's WTVF-TV.  She then relocated to Baltimore's WJZ-TV to co-anchor the "Six O’Clock News" and later went on to become co-host of its local talk show, "People Are Talking."

In 1984, Oprah moved to Chicago to host WLS-TV's morning talk show, AM Chicago, which became the number one local talk show—surpassing ratings for Donahue—just one month after she began.  In less than a year, the show expanded to one hour and was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show.  It entered national syndication in 1986, becoming the highest-rated talk show in television history.  In 1988, she established Harpo Studios, a production facility in Chicago, making her the third woman in the American entertainment industry (after Mary Pickford and Lucille Ball) to own her own studio. 

The Oprah Winfrey Show has remained the number one talk show for 23 consecutive seasons*.  Produced by her own production company, Harpo Productions, Inc., the show is seen by an estimated 42 million viewers a week in the United States** and is broadcast internationally in 145 countries.

In 2008, Oprah and Discovery Communications announced plans to create “OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.” The new multi-platform media venture will be designed to entertain, inform and inspire people to live their best lives.  OWN will debut in 2010 in approximately 70 million homes.

 

Sources: 
*Nielsen Cassandra Ranking Report - Nov'86 to July '99 and Wrap Sweeps+, Nov '99 to May ‘08. Wtd Avg DMA HH Rtg, Primary Telecasts Only. 
**Nielsen/NPower/P2+ unique viewer average: 1-minute qualifier, L+7, 11/1-11/28/07, 1/31-2/27/08, 4/24-5/21/08, excludes 11/23/07.
 
Last Updated: October 2008