Back to you, Oprah: Recalling a reluctant anchorwoman
Oprah Winfrey, 1984
It’s a forgotten chapter in Chicago television history. But if things had worked out differently, we might have been saluting Oprah Winfrey on her 25th year as a local news anchor last year instead of gearing up for the end of her talk show career here.
On April 2, 1984 — just three months after her debut as host of “A.M. Chicago” — a 30-year-old Oprah teamed up with veteran news anchor Joel Daly to launch a 4 p.m. weekday newscast on ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7. Oprah was still very much a newcomer on the local scene, and her bosses were eager to showcase her outside of her morning talk show.
It wasn’t such a far-fetched idea. Oprah got her start as an anchor and reporter for a station in Nashville at the tender age of 19. She’d also been an anchor in Baltimore, her last stop before Dennis Swanson, vice president and general manager of Channel 7, beckoned her to Chicago. Although the 4 p.m. gig was billed as an “experiment,” the station clearly had thoughts of a more permanent role for her in its news department.
“She didn’t want to do it,” recalled Bill Applegate, who, as news director of Channel 7 at the time, hatched the idea. “And her morning show became so successful so fast that she had the clout to convince Dennis to end the experiment.” After three weeks, it was over. By the time the May sweeps rolled around, Oprah was firmly ensconced in Channel 7’s programming department, which was still reeling from the ouster of program director Jeff McGrath, the Channel 7 exec who’d first spotted Oprah on a producer’s demo tape.
For about another year or so, Applegate was able to “borrow” Oprah to contribute occasional reports for Channel 7 newscasts — including a trip to famine-ravaged Ethiopia with news anchor Mary Ann Childers. But for all practical purposes, Oprah’s news days were behind her.
Truth be told, Oprah knew long before the Channel 7 experiment that she wasn’t cut out to be an anchorwoman. As she once reminisced in a commencement address to Wellesley College:
“I remember being taken off the air in Baltimore, being told that I was no longer being fit for television and that I could not anchor the news because I used to go out on the stories and my own truth was, even though I am not a weeper, I would cry for the people in the stories, which really wasn’t very effective as a news reporter to be covering a fire and crying because the people lost their house [pretending to cry as she said this]. And it wasn’t until I was demoted as an on-air anchorwoman and thrown into the talk show arena to get rid of me, that I allowed my own truth to come through. The first day I was on the air doing my first talk show back in l978, it felt like breathing, which is what your true passion should feel like. It should be so natural to you. And so, I took what had been a mistake, what had been perceived as a failure with my career as an anchorwoman in the news business and turned it into a talk show career that’s done OK for me!”
And yet, if her local, half-hour “A.M. Chicago” hadn’t caught on as quickly as it did (and if her brilliant agent and manager, Jeff Jacobs, hadn’t engineered her move to syndication and outright ownership of the show), who knows? Oprah might still be anchoring the news today.
UPDATE: Rare video footage of Oprah behind the anchor desk:
Elsewhere on the media beat:
- Zoraida Sambolin, morning news anchor at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5, will host “Weekend Connection,” a new half-hour show providing “a local focus to the top national stories of the week,” airing at 8:30 a.m. Sundays, starting this weekend. Jointly produced by NBC News and Channel 5, it’s part of the station’s revamped Sunday morning lineup, including new times for “Sunday Today” (at 7 a.m.), Marion Brooks’ “The Talk” (at 8 a.m.), “The Chris Matthews Show” (at 9 a.m.) and “Meet the Press” (at 9:30 a.m.).
- Frank Sennett has been promoted to president/editor-in-chief of Time Out Chicago. The move coincides with an expansion of the weekly magazine and website’s local operations and their “decoupling” from New York management. Sennett, a veteran journalist, author and former editor of NewCity, joined Time Out Chicago as editor in chief in January 2008 and most recently doubled as general manager.
- In another setback for Chicago Media Action, the Federal Communications Commission has dismissed a second petition for reconsideration of the community group’s opposition against license renewals for the eight biggest Chicago television stations. In its complaint, the group had cited “the failure of the broadcasters in meeting their responsibilities concerning electoral democracy.”
- Noon Sunday will mark the official launch of the Chicago Independent Radio Project online at CHIRPradio.org. Fulfilling the longtime mission of programmer Shawn Campbell, the new station will broadcast live 21 hours a day from studios in the North Center neighborhood. A fundraiser for the nonprofit group will be held at 10 p.m. Saturday at the Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, featuring the Yolks, Hollows and Rabble Rabble. (Thanks to Jim DeRogatis for explaining that those are three Chicago bands.)
- Condolences to Corey McPherrin, sports anchor at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32, whose 88-year-old father, Jack McPherrin, died of injuries after losing control of his vehicle last week in a crash on Interstate 294 near Chicago Ridge. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. today at St. John Lutheran Church in Darien.
blogs.vocalo.org
Thanks Channel 5 for putting “Sunday Today” back on at 7 a.m. Good luck to Zoraida on “Weekend Connection.”
Wow! Oprah was only 19 when she anchored in Nashville. That’s amazing.
What about Bruce? He needs to podcast! It would be hi-larious!
what about me?
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/blogshakalaka
(um, some stale posts, including one that contains a line about luke butkus being “fired” and dave mcginnis being “hired” by the bears, which rick morrissey of the sun-times coincidentally expounded on a day after my post. do i get credit for a scoop?)
as for this post, i was trying to imagine all the people who did not become sentimental talk show hosts and instead stuck to their roles as news anchors. and i think, based upon my reasonable degree of experience in the tv news business, that that universe contains EVERY PERSON WHO EVER BECAME AN ANCHOR! it’s not just oprah’s “truth,” it’s everyone’s truth to cry because of a fire that kills people. that is why oprah has been called an everywoman. i think allison rosati, for example, could do a show equal to oprah’s in sentiment and humor.
the question, of course, is should there be such a show? oprah tends to wallow in sentiment. restraint is not her strong suit. witness her weight fluctuations. there is nothing wrong with sentiment per se. it’s a question of the right place and the right time. c.s. lewis’s screwtape said that there are eras in human history that are sentimental and there are eras that are decidedly not, and the great joke of human history is that in the sentimental ones we tend to think that the cure for our ills is even more sentiment, and in the stoic eras we think we need ever more rigidity. so in the late 15th century it was thought that we needed to get even tougher and you had the spanish inquisition. in the 20th century, a very sentimental one, we got even gushier. and as flannery o’connor once said, the germans got so sentimental that they created gas chambers.
we’re a very weepy, sentimental lot. we care. we care so much that our appetite for caring simply cannot be satisfied anymore. come, come, eldrick woods to oprah’s show. we need to see you weep and we need to weep for you. just one question, eldrick. should you go on, will you be on with a lady or the tiger?
Bruce! I love your stuff. But….come on – I give you the link every day, do me a favor and don’t write about your link too. Then, it’s just blatant promotion and I have a harder time defending why I don’t take your links down.
We cool like that? More Bruce Wolf!
What about Justin Kaufmann
.
..and why does this have to be printed – can’t you pick up the phone and call Bruce? We love Bruce and love what he writes … get off his back and let free speech reign.
well, justin, i do appreciate your concern. actually, the reason i was re-visiting this site just now was to copy my comment and post it on my site with an italic precede directing readers to this site.
i do try to keep my description of what i have on my site to a capsule. i realize that the rules in this brave new blogging world are not clearly defined. it would be absurd to print my entire post on this site (although i did, in fact, do same on roger ebert’s site when i ripped rich roeper, and ebert responded by complimenting me). on the other hand, we really can’t go back to the newspaper days when the sun-times and tribune hardly recognized each other’s existence. you still see vestiges of that. the sun-times’ mike mulligan, for example, recently disembowled the tribune’s david haugh analysis of jay cutler’s interception spree in san francisco but mulligan never mentioned haugh by name. that is silly.
so i am sure we will fumble our way toward clearer guidelines as to how much cross-pollinating is kosher. one factor that might be looked at is the ratio of promotion to cogent commentary. you will note i gave you an awful lot to chew on regarding oprah in exchange for a few lines about myself. and, of course, even at that those lines aren’t meant as mere promotion. they are also a joke, as i’m sure you are well aware, on this whole crazy blogging world, which is about everyone attempting to become a star. everyone clamoring “what about me?”, everyone, in fact, becoming his own oprah. thank you for spurring me into an even greater exegesis on the topic.
i now must, however, go back to what can actually earn me a living. and that is my practice as a divorce lawyer. by the way, if you or anyone you know is in need of a domestic relations attorney, i would be glad to help out.
stay in touch.
Yeah, Justin…
What Bruce said goes double for me! Feder and Bruce here…it’s one-stop shopping!
Okay, the commenters have spoken. Down with me, up with Bruce. I agree with you Bruce – we’re still figuring this out. And far from it for me to be “the man” telling you what you can post and what you can’t. For me, the infamous Bruce Wolf hangs out here, and that’s great by me. Keep it coming!
Bruce: You can call this a pet peeve or whatever but, can I ask a favor and please start using your “caps” button when you type an entry in this blog. I know it’s cool to want to be like the 21 year old waiters at Chili’s whom text message from their IPhone when they are supposed to be serving your Caesar Salad wrap you ordered 25 minutes ago and still don’t have..
Thanks.
I come here for two reasons to read Rob Feder and your comments.
Thanks Again.
I hope Zoraida Sambolin can use her position and new show to convince NBC to redo the morning news. Why do they spend so much time showing moronic videos culled from the internet. Morons who want to find stupid videos on the internet can easily do so, and usually do before they ever show up on NBC morning news. A little more actual news and a lot less moronic banter and web video would be very welcome. NBC used to be my favorite for morning news, much of that due to Zoraida Sambolin. But lately, it is becoming unwatchable for anyone with a IQ over 50. That, combined with Steve Rhodes resigning from the NBC Chicago website, makes me wonder what is going on. I’ll be switching to CBS or WGN very soon if this keeps up.
what about ferrell gummitt?
the reason i don’t use capital letters here (or when emailing)is that i’m a prig. it’s my protest against the new media. the new media don’t deserve the formality of capitalization.
thank you, justin, for your capitulation. it was so kind that i am almost thinking about not touting my blog site. almost.
as for the nbc5 news in the morning, i haven’t watched it since i was on it (if i’m not on it, it doesn’t exist) but i know a thing or two. first, the name of the anchor is zorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraida!!!!!!!!!!! second, there is nothing wrong with showing moronic videos as long as the commentary about the moronic videos is interesting. is it?
the nbc5 news in the morning is essentially 15 10-minute shows. (don’t you love how a news program is called a “show”? like they’re doing “my fair lady”) and that’s not including commercials. and once you’re done with the weather and the traffic and the obligatory headlines and promos for the “today” show’s interview with mistress number 19 of tiger woods, there’s not much room for creativity. nor should there be. it’s not the raison d’etre of the “show.” however, if the show needs some zest, maybe they should hire oprah. imagine what she could bring to the almost daily coverage of fires.
Screwtape Letters FTW.
I think Bruce Wolf should take grammar and punctuation classes before he is allowed to post his next comment. He is letting his ignorance be too blatant by his lack of writing skills.
Yes, that is correct Kathy Posner. Oprah is heavier now.
Hey Justin. Since you love the guy so much, why not give him his OWN blog here? Or rename this the Rob and Bruce Show? Roe at least had the courtesy to do that with Sis-ko Koe-toe. Or did he? I can’t remember.
Actually, having listened to a little of Roe and Sis-koe I’m willing to offer the thought that Jim Johnson is an unusual presence on major market radio. Sounds a bit flumoxxed most of the time, almost like he wandered into the studio without his copy and suddenly realized it was time to go on the air (a nightly dream of mine for years along with the one about being naked behind the anchor desk. Sometimes with Janet Davies’ face-lifted face and botoxed lips next to me, sometimes just alone. Alone wasn’t as frightening).
Anyway that overdone Double YOU ELL Ess of his has me tuning away, just as I do every time the Free Credit Report dot com commercial appears on TV.
Bruce, would you consider doing news during PM drive on an iconic Chicago radio station?
How did you ever find the film of Chevy Chase doing a pratfall dressed as George Bush. Great film. Was this on loan from the Oprah museum ? What we don’t have an Oprah museum. This could be the solution to State of Illinois’s
twelve billion dollar deficit.
what about james dvorak?
i’d do the news on wls only if i could dictate it to lyle dean and have him read it.