Barbara Walters was a Guest on Oprah in 1985, Oprah's First Year on being on the Air: "AM Chicago"

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!

• 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 Trivia: 20 Years in the Making!

• 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

Oprah Winfrey in April 1985 in Chicago on A.M. Chicago

OWN, Oprah Winfrey Network: Viewers are Down 17 % Day time and 34 % Prime time for 25-54 Aged Women

Oprah Winfrey

Media Daily News has reported: 'In its fifth full week of programming (1/31-2/6), OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network was down 17% versus last week among women 25-54 in total day (40,000 versus 48,000), and down 34% among women 25-54 in prime time (54,000 versus 82,000), reports TV By The Numbers. For now, OWN is below last year's women 25-54 averages for Discovery Health.' 

Oprah Introduced Her Half-sister Who She Never Knew Existed: It was a moment that made you cry

Patricia is Oprah's half sister. She has two children and lives in Milwaukee.Oprah's mom
Some of the official paperwork that indicated proof that Patricia was given up by Oprah's mother.
Vernita is the mother of 4 children. Oprah had 2 sisters who had the same name Pat. Pat on the far right died, as did Oprah's brother, Jeffrey. The other Pat, on the left next to Oprah is the half-sister who was given away by Oprah's mom.

Patricia, Oprah's new found sister who lives in Milwaukee
Oprah's mom, Vernita who lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah invited her sister Patricia on the show to help explain the story on why they never met.
Oprah's mom, Vernita with Patricia, Oprah's half-sister who Oprah never knew existed. This picture is when the two had met for the first time. Patricia had tried several time to meet her mother who gave her up, but was always rejected.


Oprah Winfrey had opened up today about a personal secret that she has been keeping since Thanksgiving, 2010. That is when she and Stedman had gone to Milwaukee, Wisconsin from Chicago to meet the half-sister that she never knew she had. The pictures above are all from the show. They represent the happiness, sadness and joy that all of the family members had once they had united. It was a very moving show, and it is amazing that Oprah cared to share it with her audience. The one thing that is for sure is that Oprah has a big heart and not only for the new love for her sister who she just met, but also for her audience. It was such a personal thing that she had shared, and only one who has such an affection for her audience would care to share it with her audience. It would be wonderful if Oprah gave her sister a show on her new network.
Just a thought.

Piers Morgan: What Information Did He Dig Out of Oprah, and How Did He Do on HIs First Show on CNN?

Piers Morgan on his new show on CNN
Oprah as a young lady
Oprah and Stedman
Oprah Winfrey on CNN's "Pierce Morgan's Tonight"
Piers Morgan with his first interview for CNN with Oprah Winfrey

Piers Morgan is reaching to the top with the list of guests that he has on his show. He made it clear that there were certain people, such as Madonna who he would never have as a guest. His new show has a lot of nice things in place for him already. The 9 pm time slot that was used by talk show host, Larry King is a wonderful time to sit down, relax and watch an interview. He gets a full hour to ask more in depth questions, CNN airs around the world and last but not least, the ratings for Larry King Live were not good, and Piers can only go up with the numbers.
The interview with Oprah was a wonderful choice since she just launched her OWN network and people  want to see what she has to say about it. It was also good, because Oprah doesn't do many interviews, and anyone who gets one with her has a lot to boast about.
Oprah appeared very comfortable being interviewed and it appeared as if she really enjoyed it. She has a very down to earth low key conversation with Piers. Mr Morgan kept complimenting Oprah which clearly was enjoyed by Ms Winfrey. He had his cue card in his hand during the entire interview. Mr Morgan talked about Oprah's childhood, her relationship with Stedman, the rumors about her relationship with Gayle, OWN, and her money. Oprah was very candid, and had no problems with any questions that were asked. This was a wonderful interview. Piers Morgan had talked about things that no other interviewer had asked. He was aggressive, but kind at the same time. He knew the boundaries, and took the chance to get answers. As for Oprah. She was always a very inspirational person, but after this interview she came across even more. Howard Stern is the interview for tonight and hopefully it will be as good. So far,
Piers has done an outstanding job.

Oprah Winfrey Network, OWN : How is the Network Doing?

"Entertainment Weekly" recently did a story on "OWN" and how it is doing. These are the numbers that had been included in the article. The OWN network was launched with one million viewers in prime time. On Sunday the number went down to 822,000. Monday the number went down again to 394,000. and on Tuesday the number went down again to 315,000.
The "OWN" Network is looking for female viewers between the ages of 25-54. The major competition they have is the "Oxygen" and "WE" networks for these demographics.
The CEO of "OWN" is, Christina Norman who stated,'the network is just starting and is on it's way to a goal of original programming.' The network needs more time before a judgment call can be made on the success.