Oprah Winfrey made her television debut in 1976 in Baltimore, hosting the television chat show People Are Talking. Winfrey moved to Chicago in 1984 to host AM Chicago, a morning show on ABC 7 that had struggled with ratings before Winfrey’s arrival. Once on the show, Winfrey helped turn around the struggling production and eventually landed her own talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Before The Oprah Winfrey Show went into national syndication, Oprah starred in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple, which earned her an Academy Award nomination. The Oprah Winfrey Show went into national syndication on September 8, 1986, and quickly became one of the most popular television shows in the nation.

Learn more:
Read more about the life and success of Oprah Winfrey
Visit Oprah’s official website