• Oprah’s show to end

    Date: 2009.11.24 | Category: Current | Tags:

    PhotobucketThe iconic American talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, is to stop doing her globally famous show in September 2011, after 25 years on the air.

    The Oprah Winfrey Show began in 1986 and is now broadcast in 140 countries. With its confessional atmosphere and Ms Winfrey’s candour about her troubled childhood and her weight and relationship problems, it’s redefined the talk show genre.

    It’s also made her the wealthiest black woman in the world, and possibly too, the most influential. A Maryland University study suggested her support for Barak Obama had been key to his nomination. Authors appearing on her programme can become bestsellers overnight.

    Oprah is still the highest rated talk show on US television but audiences are half what they were a decade ago. Her empire also includes magazines, a radio show and, from next year, a television network, so it seems likely her place in American culture will continue.