Oprah ends 25 year run

TAMPA — In January 1986, I was covering a national programming convention in Las Vegas when a publicist for the King World syndication company called me over to meet a future talk show host.

"You have met Oprah? She's amazing," he said.

"Opal? Okra?," I said. "Who's Oprah?"

She was 31 years old, full of excitement and little-known outside of Chicago, where she was host of a local talk show. In the fall of that year, her nationally syndicated show would debut.

She was eager to tell me how she grew up poor in Mississippi, Wisconsin and Tennessee; how her strict father helped her shape up as a teen; how she won Miss Black Tennessee at age 17 and later became the first and youngest black woman to anchor the news at a Nashville TV station.

She explained that her name was supposed to be "Orpah" from the Old Testament Book of Ruth, but her unwed mother and relatives couldn't pronounce it and often misspelled it.

Today, "Oprah" is the best-known name on television and possibly in the world.

I didn't realize it then but meeting her at that point was like seeing Elvis in concert in 1956 before he became a superstar. Today, I wouldn't be able to get a face-to-face hour-long chat with Winfrey, now 57.

I recall being impressed by her charm, her enthusiasm and her determination to break barriers. Phil Donahue was the king of daytime talk shows then. It was a white-guys club. There were no black talk show hosts and successful women in television tended to be size 4 and smaller.

I remember thinking, "She's OK but she'll never replace Donahue."

Her show debuted and the rest is TV history.

At first, Winfrey followed the formula that made Donahue successful — presenting controversial guests and over-the-top topics, the kind of stuff Jerry Springer still does.

But as the talk field became crowded and more sensational in the 1990s (Sally Jesse Raphael, Geraldo Rivera, Jenny Jones, Maury Povich), Winfrey broke away from the pack.

She took the high road, focusing on self-improvement, emotional healing, forgiveness, improving health, beauty, fashion and life-affirming ideas.

She welcomed celebrity guests and ordinary people who heroically overcame hardships. She introduced her fans to books and products that flew off the shelves after she mentioned them.

She built a communications empire that includes "O – The Oprah Magazine," Harpo Films, Oprah's Books, her hit TV show and the new cable network OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). She gave us "Dr. Phil," "The Nate Berkus Show" and "Dr. Oz," too.

She is leaving her syndicated show to devote more time to the cable operation.

There have been many "Oprah moments" on her show, from Tom Cruise prancing on her couch to profess his love for Katie Holmes to Oprah coming out in size 10 Calvin Klein jeans pulling a wagon containing 67 pounds of fat (the amount she lost in 1988).

She has surprised studio audiences by giving each person a car or flying the whole crowd to Disney World for a weekend. This year, she sent one audience on an all-expenses paid trip to Australia.

With a net worth estimated to top $3 billion, she often has been called the most powerful woman in show business. And her public support of Barack Obama may have helped him get elected president of the United States.

After 25 years she ended her syndicated run Wednesday.

There's been a year-long goodbye culminating in a month of special episodes with two star-filled shows Monday and Tuesday. The content of Wednesday's finale remained a mystery at press time until the show aired.

Ratings for the finale could set a record. Commercial time for a 30-second spot is going for $1 million, according to reports.

"I feel like I am ending a love affair," Winfrey said recently. "I don't feel sad. I feel like it is time."
Walt Belcher writes for Media General's Tampa Tribune.