An Ode to Oprah

            Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi to Vernita and Vernon Winfrey. She was originally named Orpah after a woman in the book of Ruth in the bible, but her parents couldn't spell very well and they misplaced the letter "p" and "a," therefore becoming Oprah. As an adolescent Oprah was sexually abused by male relatives. Growing up in a troubled home, Oprah experimented with drugs and alcohol and became pregnant when she was 14. She gave birth to a premature baby, and shortly after the baby recovered it died. Devastated, Oprah went to live with her father in Nashville.
             Oprah attended Tennessee State in 1971 where she studied speech and performing arts. She dropped out in 1972 during her sophomore year to become an anchor at a Nashville television station. She was the first black woman to hold that position. After a stint of reporting and co-anchoring Oprah was offered a position as a talk show host of a morning show called A.M. Chicago. This talk show was airing the same time as the Phil Donahue Show. A.M. Chicago eventually surpassed the Phil Donahue Show ratings wise and became the first talk show to beat out Phil Donahue's show. The title A.M. Chicago was later changed to the Oprah Winfrey Show.
             The Oprah Winfrey Show was nationally syndicated in 1986. Oprah was now being seen on 120 different channels and watched by nearly 10 million people worldwide. It is believed that Oprah's ratings soared because Oprah was not afraid to bare her soul and her past experiences to her audience. Most talk show hosts tended to leave their personal lives private while their guests spilled their guts and aired their "dirty laundry" in front of millions of viewers. She then founded Harpo Productions (which is Oprah spelled backwards) and received tons of money through the syndication of her talk show.
             Around the mid to late 90's, talk show topics began becoming increasingly trashy and unfair.