Q&A Forum - July 2008 (Best of Elise)

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A. Oprah is a powerful woman and she obtained that power by rising to the top in a formerly male dominated profession. When she got started at in Baltimore and later Chicago, the big national talk shows were all men. There was Mike Douglass, Merv Griffin and of course Donahue. Not many people gave her a chance but she became bigger then them all and the reason is because of her heart. Yes, she is a smart woman but there are a lot of smart women. The fact that she was an African American made her rise to the top even all the more impressive. When she started, the good old boys network did not think that white, suburban women would watch a black female talk-show host. But they were wrong because women connected to Oprah due to her heart. Women can sense the real deal.

Another interesting aspect of Oprah’s rise to the top is that she did this during the era of the “shock jock” and “shock television”. While Morton Downing Jr and Jerry Springer were trying to make it big by appealing to the lowest human condition, Oprah made it big by appealing to the best of the human condition. The male talk shows were making fun of people but Oprah was trying to build people up. That is why she has made it to the top and the majority of her audience is women.