Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 4, 1995 TAG: 9510040090
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LEWIS BEALE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's the question fans and TV insiders are asking after the queen of the talk shows recently announced she has been considering dropping out of the chat race.
Tired of the strain that comes from taping 200 shows a year, fed up with her solitary battle against the sleazier-than-thou topics that dominate the competition, Winfrey said she expects to disclose her decision this week.
If Winfrey leaves the field ``there is no one to replace her,'' says Donna Hathaway of Advanswers Media/Programing, a media buying service. ``She is like Barbra Streisand, a phenomenon, one of a kind. There have been many that have tried, but no one has managed to get across the warmth she has with her people and her audience.''
Winfrey's show, now in its 10th year, is credited with creating the talk show craze. When her program debuted, Winfrey's only competition was Phil Donahue, who opted for more high-minded topics than Oprah's homey, sometimes tabloid-like orientation.
Once Winfrey's ratings put her at the top of the talk show world, other programs - most of them obsessed with sex and scandal - rushed to imitate her success. There are now approximately 20 talk programs.
``Oprah single-handedly has had such a huge audience she has influenced her own time period and adjacent time periods,'' says Jack Fentress of Petry National TV, a sales rep for 120 TV stations. ``There was a period of time if you had `Oprah,' you were the No. 1 station in town.''
Winfrey's huge audience numbers have not only been attractive to advertisers, but as a lead-in to other programs, particularly local TV news shows.
``She's an ideal news lead-in, because she attracts the older woman,'' says Jim Benson, who covers the TV industry for Variety. ``I don't know if the other talk shows can fill those (3 p.m. and 4 p.m.) time periods; they're not ideal news lead-ins because they have younger audiences that aren't as interested in the news.''
In the past year, Winfrey has shied away from shows about wives who are sleeping with their husband's best friends to concentrate on diet and health topics, celebrities, social issues involving children and Dale Carnegie-like self-improvement. This has hurt her somewhat in the ratings, but Winfrey remains queen of all she surveys.
``It would be depressing to have that much of a positive black woman role model removed from the airwaves,'' says Jose Pretlow, executive producer of ``Geraldo.'' ``She is a champion for a number of women, and I can only speculate on the effect she has had on young black women. It will be a sad day if she is not on the air anymore.''
by CNB