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, 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 remained the number one talk show for 24 consecutive seasons*. Produced by her own production company, the show reached more than 40 million viewers a week in the United States** and was licensed to 150 countries internationally.

In 2008, Oprah and Discovery Communications announced plans to create OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, a multi-platform media venture designed to entertain, inform and inspire people to live their best lives. OWN debuted on January 1, 2011, in 67 percent of homes in the United States and 80 percent of cable homes. Effective Fall 2011, Oprah assumed the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Creative Officer for the network.