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| Barbara Walters was a guest on Chicago A.M. in April 1985 |
About The Oprah Winfrey ShowIn 1984, Oprah Winfrey left the local talk show circuit in Baltimore and moved to the Windy City to host WLS-TV's morning talk show, AM Chicago. Just one month later, AM Chicago became the number one talk show, even surpassing ratings for Donahue!
The show quickly expanded to one hour and was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. Four years later, Oprah bought a cluster of buildings—including an old television studio—in Chicago's West Loop. She named the studio Harpo, which is, of course, "Oprah" spelled backwards!
Harpo Studios: Fun Facts!
The show quickly expanded to one hour and was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. Four years later, Oprah bought a cluster of buildings—including an old television studio—in Chicago's West Loop. She named the studio Harpo, which is, of course, "Oprah" spelled backwards!
Harpo Studios: Fun Facts!
- With the purchase of the large Chicago production facility now known as Harpo Studios, Oprah became the third woman in the American entertainment industry—after Mary Pickford and Lucille Ball—to own her own studio.
- In the early 1900s, the Harpo building was Chicago's Second Regiment Armory. After the Eastland steamer capsized in the Chicago River in 1915, the armory was used as a temporary morgue for victims of the disaster. Today, some say the Harpo building is haunted by the ghost of the "Gray Lady."
- Harpo Studios was once a roller skating rink called the Roller Bowl.
- In the 1950s, Harpo's building was used as Fred Niles Studios, where they filmed TV commercials with Muhammed Ali and movies such as Mickey One with Warren Beatty. Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom was also shot at this studio.
- The Oprah Winfrey Show has remained the number one talk show for 19 consecutive seasons.
- The show is seen by an estimated 49 million viewers viewers a week in the United States.
- About 300 audience members fill the seats at every taping...totaling more than 1,115,100 people in 20 years!
- Women outnumber men in the audience by a ratio of 19 to 1.
- A total of 117 countries around the world, from Australia to Zimbabwe, broadcast The Oprah Winfrey Show.
- As of September 9, 2005, there have been approximately 3,717 shows taped!
- The title of the very first syndicated show was "How to Marry the Man or Woman of Your Choice," and the most talked about subject over the past 20 years is Parenting and Family Relationships.
- More than 856 celebrities have been guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
- Julia Roberts is the most frequent female celebrity guest on the show—appearing in the studio 10 times! Luther Vandross has been on the show 11 times, making him the most frequent male celebrity guest.
- Oprah considers Adam Sandler one her most surprising guests of all time..."I thought he'd be a joke a minute. He was charming, shy and thoughtful."
- Three presidents, four first ladies, one reigning queen, one former queen, six princesses, six princes, one earl, one lord, one count and one duchess have graced The Oprah Winfrey Show stage.
- Dr. Phil has been a guest on the show 102 times!
- After accepting her seventh Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host and the 9th Emmy for The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah decided to stop submitting herself and the show for Emmy consideration. To date, the show has won a total of 35 Emmy awards.
- In 1998, Oprah took voice lessons so that she could sing her own theme song, "Run On." She also produced her first—and only—music video for the song!
- Musical greats like Paul Simon, Quincy Jones and Patti LaBelle have penned lyrics for Oprah theme songs. ******All of this information was taken for Oprah.com
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| Oprah Winfrey in April 1985 in Chicago on A.M. Chicago |
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