Oprah Celebrates 40 Years of The Oprah Winfrey Show

Oprah Winfrey (0:01)

This episode of The Oprah Podcast is presented by our partner, Geico.

I'm Oprah Winfrey, and welcome to the very first National Oprah Winfrey Show. And I have to say, my life changed ways I couldn't even imagine. Here's a look at how it all started.

SPEAKER_2 (0:27)

Hi there.

Oprah Winfrey (0:27)

My name is Oprah Winfrey. Oprah spelled O-P-R-A-H, and if you noticed, it's Harpo spelled backwards. I bet on myself. This was almost unheard of at the time.

Hi there, and welcome to The Oprah Podcast.

This is a momentous moment of true gratitude for me. First of all, I live with gratitude in my spirit all the time, and this marks a different kind because it was 40 years ago, September 8th, 1986, to be exact, that the very first Oprah Winfrey Show aired on national television. And at the time, I was 32 years old, which is unbelievable to me now that I got to live another 40 years. I'd been working in television since I was 19 I started in radio when I was 16, and moved to television first as a weekend anchor in Nashville, Tennessee, and then as a regular news anchor in Baltimore before I finally co-hosted my first talk show. Started that in 1978 It's called People Are Talking with Richard Scherr.

SPEAKER_3 (1:47)

People Are Talking with a couple of friends of yours, Richard Scherr and Oprah Winfrey, and a lot of heart. Weekday mornings at 9 on Channel 13

That's what friends are for.

Oprah Winfrey (2:02)

Richard and I were co-hosts together on that show. And then I left Baltimore, moved to Chicago, which was the big leagues. It was the number three, still is, number three market in the country after Los Angeles. It was in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. And if you worked in television, you wanted to be in one of the top three markets. And the country was a different kind of country then. And I have to say, I was so excited about hosting AM Chicago. And everybody had told me, you know, what a racist city Chicago was, and what a hard time I was gonna have.

And it was not true for me. I was embraced by the city and the people of the city. And most importantly, embraced by my boss, Dennis Swanson.

My boss, Dennis Swanson, who believed and trusted that, in spite of whatever racial feelings people might have, that I would be able to be successful on that show, hosting that show myself in the morning in Chicago.

Good morning.

SPEAKER_4 (3:23)

Hi, everybody.

Oprah Winfrey (3:23)

I'm Oprah Winfrey, and of course, this is AM Chicago. Our topic this morning will probably shock most of you in and out of the medical field. According to two statistics, one out of 10 doctors are addicted to drugs or to alcohol, and without further ado, let's meet Tad and his women.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Oprah Winfrey, and this morning on AM Chicago, we're getting right down to it. Can a woman be accepted as vice president?

SPEAKER_6 (3:51)

Okay.

Oprah Winfrey (3:51)

So this is the man who put the curve in Morgan Fairchild and Linda Gray and all those wonderful people.

SPEAKER_4 (3:56)

Tell me all the other people you do.

SPEAKER_2 (3:57)

Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg.

SPEAKER_4 (3:59)

Steven.

SPEAKER_6 (4:01)

Steven Spielberg.

SPEAKER_4 (4:01)

I love him.

Barbara Walters (4:02)

Do you?

SPEAKER_4 (4:03)

I love him.

Barbara Walters (4:04)

Want to meet him?

Oprah Winfrey (4:04)

Next time you talk to him, I hear he's doing this wonderful movie and mention my name. That was a great role for you.

Barbara Walters (4:09)

OK.

Oprah Winfrey (4:09)

Oprah Winfrey.

Barbara Walters (4:10)

OK.

Oprah Winfrey (4:11)

What do you turn to when you are just a child and your mommy and daddy are drunk all the time? Good morning. I'm Oprah Winfrey and this is AM Chicago. Over 22 million adults, 22 million in this country are children of alcoholics. My first guests say that she grew up with an alcoholic mother who still has a drinking problem. Here is a shocking statistic. At least 60% of married men, 60% of married men, and 40% of married women report that they have had extramarital affairs.

SPEAKER_2 (4:42)

Good morning, everybody.

SPEAKER_4 (4:43)

I'm Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah Winfrey (4:44)

I want to tell you that 11 years ago, I was 19 years old and was offered a job in broadcasting. I went to the CBS affiliate in Nashville and they said, I know you've never done television before, but would you do an audition for us?

SPEAKER_4 (4:56)

I said, my God, I don't know what to do.