''The Phil Donahue Show'', also known as ''Donahue'', is an American television
talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...
hosted by
Phil Donahue
Phillip John Donahue (born December 21, 1935) is an American media personality, writer, film producer and the creator and host of ''The Phil Donahue Show''. The television program, later known simply as ''Donahue'', was the first talk show forma ...
that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast on
WLWD in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County, Ohio, Greene County. The 2020 United S ...
, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1970 and 1996.
History
Dayton start
In 1967,
Phil Donahue
Phillip John Donahue (born December 21, 1935) is an American media personality, writer, film producer and the creator and host of ''The Phil Donahue Show''. The television program, later known simply as ''Donahue'', was the first talk show forma ...
left his positions as news reporter and interviewer at
WHIO radio and
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
in Dayton to go into the stations' sales department. He found he did not like it and took an on-air news position at another Dayton TV station, WLWD (now
WDTN).
The station’s weekday variety, music and chat program, ''The
Johnny Gilbert Show'', ended suddenly, when Gilbert left on short notice for a hosting job in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. WLWD named Donahue to replace Gilbert, keeping the live format and studio audience. But Donahue decided to take the show in a new direction. He focused on one guest or topic for the entire hour and invited the audience to ask questions. On November 6, 1967, Donahue hosted his first guest,
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Madalyn Murray O'Hair (née Mays; April 13, 1919 – September 29, 1995) was an American activist supporting atheism and separation of church and state. In 1963 she founded American Atheists and served as its president until 1986, after which he ...
. Though he would later call her message of atheism "very important", he also stated she was rather unpleasant and that, off-camera, she mocked him for being
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
.On May 19, 1973, Donahue's guest was Dr. Cody Sweet who brought the subject of body language to the US nationally syndicate television audience for the first time.
National syndication
Initially, the program was shown only on four stations owned by the
Crosley Broadcasting Corporation (which would later take the name of its parent
Avco Company): Dayton,
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...
,
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
, and
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
. With the show's ratings success in those cities, on September 14, 1970, ''The Donahue Show'' entered nationwide
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
. When the Avco Company divested their broadcasting properties in 1976,
Multimedia Inc. assumed production and syndication of the program, which was now known as simply ''Donahue''. Donahue relocated the show's home base to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
in 1974, first using the studios of
independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, marke ...
WGN-TV
WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...
on the city's north side. Multimedia ended its relationship with WGN in 1982, a move designed to protect
syndication exclusivity in markets outside Chicago (WGN was expanding nationally via cable television at the time), and ''Donahue'' moved downtown to
CBS-owned
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington ...
.
In 1984, ''Donahue'' introduced many viewers to
hip-hop culture
Hip hop or hip-hop is a culture and art movement that was created by African Americans, Latino Americans and Caribbean Americans in the Bronx, New York City. Hip hop culture is characterized by four key elements: rapping, DJing and turntabl ...
, as a program featured
breakdancing for the first time on national television, accompanied by a performance from the
hip hop group
UTFO
UTFO (an abbreviation for Untouchable Force Organization) was an American old-school hip hop group from Brooklyn, New York City.
The group consisted of Kangol Kid (born Shaun Shiller Fequiere; August 10, 1966 – December 18, 2021), Educate ...
. In 1985, Donahue left Chicago for
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and began recording in Studio 8-G at
30 Rockefeller Plaza, the home of his New York affiliate
WNBC-TV
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo statio ...
. Prior to the move, a month-long series of commercials heralded the move, and NBC's late-night talk host
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...
would use portions of his national program counting down the days to Donahue's move with a huge calendar in his studio.
Fainting hoax
One of the most discussed incidents in ''Donahue''s history came on January 21, 1985, soon after the show moved to New York. On this day's program, seven members of the audience appeared to faint during the broadcast, which was seen live in New York. Donahue, fearing the fainting was caused by both anxiety at being on television and an overheated studio, eventually cleared the studio of audience members and then resumed the show. It turned out the fainting "spell" was cooked up by media hoaxer
Alan Abel
Alan Irwin Abel (August 2, 1924 – September 14, 2018) was an American hoaxer, writer, and mockumentary filmmaker famous for several hoaxes that became media circuses.
Education and early career
Born on August 2, 1924, in Zanesville, Ohio ...
in what Abel said was a protest against what he termed as poor-quality television.
International success
''Donahue'' was also broadcast in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
on the
ITV Night Time line up in the late 1980s and early '90s, where it became cult viewing. After its success, Donahue made several shows in
Britain featuring some well-known celebrities from the country as guests, recorded mostly in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
but notably one programme recorded in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
, which had several members of the cast from the American
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
'' and the Manchester-based
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio drama ...
''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Orig ...
''.
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992.
Thames Television broa ...
also broadcast a number of episodes during daytime for the London area only.
It was also broadcast in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
, first on
WIN-4
WIN is a television station serving southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. It is the flagship station of the WIN Television network.
History
Programming
WIN Television broadcasts its programming from Nine Network, incl ...
in
Wollongong
Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near w ...
and then nationwide on the
Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
.
End of an era
In 1992, Donahue celebrated the 25th anniversary of his long-running television program with an NBC special produced at the
Ed Sullivan Theater
The Ed Sullivan Theater (originally Hammerstein's Theatre; later the Manhattan Theatre, Billy Rose's Music Hall, CBS Radio Playhouse No. 3, and CBS Studio 50) is a theater at 1697–1699 Broadway, between 53rd and 54th Streets, in the Theater ...
in New York, in which he was lauded by his talk-show peers. However, in many corners, he was seen as having been surpassed both by
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', b ...
, whose
hugely successful national show was based in Donahue's former Chicago home base; and
Sally Jessy Raphael, whose talk show was distributed by Donahue's syndicator, Multimedia.
The talk show field became increasingly saturated as the 1990s progressed. Many of these shows took an increasingly
tabloid
Tabloid may refer to:
* Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism
* Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size
** Chinese tabloid
* Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size
* Sopwith Tabloid
The Sopwith Tabloid an ...
bent. Donahue shied away from this trend, continuing to take a "high-road" approach. These factors led to a marked decline in ratings. The show also lost support after Donahue expressed his feelings regarding the
first Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
. Towards the end of summer 1995, New York's
WNBC-TV
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo statio ...
ceased airing the show after airing it since 1977. Weeks later,
ABC-owned
KGO-TV
KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's ABC network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, KGO-TV ma ...
in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
also dropped ''Donahue'' after carrying it for several years and also
WPVI
WPVI-TV (channel 6), branded on-air as 6 ABC, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station ...
in Philadelphia also dropped Donahue around the same time.
''Donahue'' was also ousted from its Rockefeller Plaza home, and relocated to new studios in Manhattan. ''Donahue'' was unable to resurface on another station in the nation's largest and eighth-largest markets, and its ratings never recovered. Many other stations either began dropping ''Donahue'' or moving it to late-night and early morning time slots, causing a further loss of viewers.
After 29 years, (26 of which in syndication) and nearly 7,000 shows, the final episode aired on September 13, 1996.
Reception
In 2002, ''Donahue'' was ranked 29th on ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corporat ...
'' magazine's list of the
50 greatest television shows of all-time.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phil Donahue Show, The
1967 American television series debuts
1996 American television series endings
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
1970s American television series
1980s American television talk shows
1990s American television talk shows
Television series by Universal Television
Culture of Dayton, Ohio
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show winners
Peabody Award-winning television programs