The Smithsonian’s ‘Watching Oprah’ Exhibition: A Fascinating Emblem of How Winfrey Shaped American Culture
It was early 1984, in the era of after-school specials and the Reagan administration. An ambitious, ripe and relatively unknown television correspondent by the name of Oprah Winfrey was hired to host A.M. Chicago, a dwindling half-hour local morning talk show. Within a week, there was a shocking upsurge in its ratings. No one could identify exactly what made the 30-year-old fledging journalist so endearing, but there was something about her that intrigued viewers—grabbing them by their collars, pulling them to the edge of their recliners, and demanding that they put down their coffee and watch. In one month’s...
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