Oprah Winfrey, a talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist, and business

woman is the chairwoman of HARPO entertainment in Chicago. She joins the elite
company of Lucille Ball and Mary Pickford, as the only woman in T.V and film to own
their own production studios. Through HARPO productions, she produces and hosts
America’s number one popular show, “The Oprah Winfrey show”. which made
records of most rated T.V. program in the history. Her African-American identity
accompanied by her billionaire status is why she outshines as an influential person.

Oprah Winfrey’s life was not a smooth track to begin with. Her childhood was full of
hardships including being raped at an early age of nine. She was born in a poor
family and it is even said that her mother was a single teenager who had not enough
resources to provide her basic amenities like food and clothing. Her mother worked
as a housemaid and her father was a barber, who previously worked as a coal
miner.

Even though male relatives had molested Winfrey when she was nine, her family
didn’t believe her. Her mother gave birth to 3 children, 2 girls and 1 boy after
Winfrey’s birth two of which died with severe illness. Winfrey was pregnant at the
age of 14 after she had run away from home tired of the abuse. Poverty didn’t
change for any good even after she started attending the London High School.

After moving to her father, Vernon, she joined the State University of Tennessee and
began working at a radio station where she co-anchored an evening local news
program. She had such a potential that a third grade Chicago talk show which she
hosted became top rated in a very short period of time. Her other early achievements
included winning a beauty pageant at the age of 17.The interest and focus of the
tabloid talk show shifted from encouraging the LGBT people into the mainstream to
promoting literature, spirituality and teaching self-improvement.

Oprah Winfrey considers her grandmother to have a key influence in encouraging

her towards public speaking. Becoming the first youngest as well as first black
female anchor at the local news channel showcased her excellent interviewing and
vocal skills. Winfrey didn’t only make her mark as an influential person in the media
industry but her announcement of the Oprah Winfrey Network in collaboration with
the Discovery Communications was another significant achievement. OWN earned
billions of revenue through the talk show hosted by Winfrey with American cyclist,
Lance Armstrong who had admitted his use of performance improving substances
openly on the show after all his seven titles had been taken back in 2012 due to
doping and the show was aired.

Oprah was declared as the richest African American who was a billionaire for three
decades by the Forbes Magazine. Even the Business Week magazine acclaimed her
as the greatest philanthropist amongst the Blacks in year 2008.

Charity has been motivated towards doing charity and staying a devoted activist for
child rights. She moved a proposal to the Congress which was enforced into a law by
Clinton in 1994 in order to create a database of all child abusers in the nation. Oprah
is a woman who has earned great respect and fame as a media giant in spite of
hardships that she faced as a child and teenager.

Oprah Winfrey, a talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist, and business
woman is the chairwoman of HARPO entertainment in Chicago. She joins the elite
company of Lucille Ball and Mary Pickford, as the only woman in T.V and film to own
their own production studios. Through HARPO productions, she produces and hosts
America’s number one popular show, “The Oprah Winfrey show”. (Oprah Winfrey
talk show bio 1997 p.1) Today many woman in America envies her life; her
popularity, intelligence and her great fortunes. Though her success was gained from
her hard work and education. She did not have any special background to be a most
loved woman in America. She has overcame number of obstacles that most people
have encountered in their own lives. She had to deal with poverty, sexual abuse,
racism as a child, and her lifelong battle with weight.

Oprah Gail Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi on January 29, 1954. As a
child, she moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, then moved back to Nashville. She has
lived through poverty, repeated sexual abuse, and a sentence to a juvenile
delinquent home. (Hyde 1997 p.57) Oprah was crowned Miss. Black Tennessee at
age 19. In 1973. She left Tennessee State University and became a newscaster for
WTVF in Nashville. Three years later, Oprah became a news anchor in Baltimore at
an ABC station but after 9 months, she was pulled off the air because of an
emotional ad-lib delivery. She eventually ended up in Chicago hosting a morning
show called “AM Chicago”. In less than a year, the show became number one and
was expanded to one hour and re-named “The Oprah Winfrey Show”.
(http://pilot.msu.edu/user/bresnah2/oprahbio.htm 1997 p.1) From there, she has
been an actress in the “Color Purple”, “The women of Breuster place” and “There are
no children here”.(Oprah Winfrey)

Today, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is the highest rated talk show in T.V history, and
seen by 15 to 20 million viewers a day in the United States and is in 132 countries.
Since entering syndication in 1986, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” has remained the
number one talk show for 10 consecutive seasons, receiving 25 Emmys. At the end
of 1996, Oprah was honored with the most prestigious award in broadcasting, the
George Foster Peaboy’s Individual Achievement Award. She also received the IRTS
Gold Medal Award, and was recognized by Time magazine as one of “America’s 25
most influential people of 1996”.(Oprah Winfrey talk show bio 1997 p1)

According to US news & World Report, Oprah has an ability called “Oprah effect”. It
is her ability to make a connection with ordinary women and through that connection,
she makes herself one of the most popular women (Dickerson 1997 p.10) In spite of
her wealth, she has a public’s taste. She knows what ordinary women want, whatare
their troubles and what they are crazy about. Stuart Fishoff, professor of media
psychology at UCLA says, “viewers want to be around someone like themselves.
They want a nonthreatning person they can identify with. And Oprah has a lot of
same problems that many of these women has and can relate to. Viewers have no
trouble envisioning her sitting home at the kitchen table in sweats and no makeup,
drinking caffeine and chomping a Danish”.(Stanley 1997 p.34) This feeling of
closeness is Oprah’s strongest point that makes her a billionaire. And to get more
close with publics, Oprah picks up a book every six weeks and asks audience to talk
about the title.

What makes her popular are not only her talent as an entertainer but also her talent
as a good announcer. She has all requirements that are necessary for a good
announcer. First, she always research and prepare about the topic of the day before
the show. This preparation and research makes her able to answer any kind of
controversial issues. And she is always able to support both sides of the issue and
never makes the audience unsatisfied or misleaded. Second, she has a high self
esteem. She always has confidence and are full of energy. Loosing many weights
gave her more confidence and higher self-esteem and made her show even better
than before. Third, she shows respects to audience and guests by listening really
well to their opinions. She answers them with direct eye contact and with rational
answers. Other characteristics that makes her a good announcer are her usage of
appropriate words and language. She knows what words are appropriate to which
races and ages. For an example, she knows some words which are O.K. to Afro-
Americans but are taboo to White-Americans. She also shows interest in any kind of
topics. This comes from her adventurous spirit and her eagerness to learn something
new. She always talks in nice tempo and rates so that audience can follow her. And
finally, she is very unique and funny that has a talent to make the other laugh. With
these characteristics and her hard work, Oprah has become the best entertainer in
American talk show.

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Today Oprah is the highest-paid woman in entertainment. Her show is not just an
entertainment but she deals with social problems which exist in all around the world.
And she contributes her self and her show to make the country better. People not
only praise her intelligence but her efforts to deal with these social issues. Today
Oprah is using her philantrophic efforts to establish educational scholarship for
hundreds of students in school and Universities throughout country, including 100
men at Morehouse University in Atlanta, Georgia.(Oprah Winfrey talk show bio P.2)
By September 15th, she is obligated to inform whether she will continue for another
two year hitch after 1997-98 season.(Schlosser 1997 p.10) It is uncertain that
whether she will still keep hosting her show or not, though many women are hoping
her to remain in the show and share her power and intelligence with them. Oprah’s
effect on T.V is so great that since she started to appear on the show, many similar
talk shows increased dramatically. And most of these talk show hosts are very
popular just like Oprah. Though I believe no one among them can influence
American women just like Oprah did