Oprah to end her talk show in 2011
- Source: Global Times
- [11:21 November 20 2009]
- Comments
Oprah Winfrey(Xinhua photo)
Oprah Winfrey will announce on her show that she will end her talk show on September 9, 2011, as its 25th season draws to a close, a spokeswoman from her company said on Thursday.
The Oprah Winfrey Show is one of the TV industry's biggest money-makers and the top-rated US daytime talk show, which has featured newsmakers from US President Barack Obama to movie star Tom Cruise. It is seen by an estimated 42 million viewers a week in the US and is broadcast to 145 countries.
In 1984, Winfrey moved to Chicago to host WLS-TV's morning talk show, AM Chicago, which became the No. 1 local talk show. A year later, it expanded to an hour-long format and renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. It entered national syndication in 1986.
The 55-year-old Winfrey is considered one of the most influential opinion-makers in the US. Her wealth was estimated at around $1 billion by Forbes in 2004. She topped the Forbes Celebrity 100 list last year, which measures both money and power.
Winfrey is expected to focus on the launch of her own TV channel. It is believed that she will move to cable network OWN, a Los Angeles-based joint venture she has with Discovery Communications Inc (DISCA.O).
"I came from nothing," Winfrey wrote in her 1998 book Journey to Beloved. “No power. No money. Not even my thoughts were my own. I had no free will. No voice. Now, I have the freedom, power, and will to speak to millions every day — having come from nowhere."
