Sexually abused and receiving no attention Oprah soon began to rebel. Her behavior became such an issue that Vernita sent her to Nashville for living arrangements with her father. Vernon being quite successful as a barber, an elected city councilman, a deacon at his church, and the owner of a grocery store (DISCovering Biography 2), knew what it took to come out victorious in the game of life. His demand for good schoolwork and militant discipline immediately turned Oprah around (Authors & Artists 200-201). .
Convinced to begin setting high standards for herself, Oprah earned a full scholarship to Tennessee State University. Along with favorable school grades, she won a number of beauty and talent contests such as Miss Fire Prevention, Miss Black Nashville, and Miss .
Black Tennessee. While attending college Oprah also read the news for a small radio station called WVOL (Oprah! 55).
After WVOL, Oprah soon became a fulltime news anchor in Nashville for a station called WTVF. Despite the good fortune coming from the job, she didn't really care for the position. In addition, her father's strict rules became too much for her to handle and triggered her to search for a new job away from home. Her move took her away leaving her without a bachelor's degree and brought her to WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Maryland (UXL Biographies 3). Working again as a six o"clock co-anchor with no emotion, Oprah realized the position didn't suit her well. With luck, her director recognized this as well. Finally, Oprah was moved to a spot on a show called People Are Talking. This move from hard news to soft news proved entirely successful. "This is what I should be doing. It's like breathing," Oprah said (DISCovering Biography 2). .
After People Are Talking Oprah was promoted once again to take over the morning talk show, A.M. Chicago. Three weeks into the show, she brought it ahead of the competition. On top of sky-high ratings, after a short eighteen months the program was renamed as the Oprah Winfrey Show.