Oprah’s departure presents problem for TV stations

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Chicago: For more than two decades, Oprah Winfrey has been the inspirational, change-your-life champion who reigned over daytime television. Now she’s ready to say goodbye, leaving a huge void for broadcast TV even as she raises the possibility of more Oprah than ever when she starts her own cable network. Winfrey told viewers that she will dim the lights on The Oprah Winfrey Show at the close of its 25th season in late 2011. “I love this show. This show has been my life. And I love it enough to know when it’s time to say goodbye,” she said, holding back tears.

Once a local Chicago morning programme, Winfrey’s show evolved into US television’s top-rated talk show for more than two decades, airing in 145 countries worldwide and watched by about 42 million viewers a week in the US. Winfrey’s show “is one of daytime television’s very foundations,” said Larry Gerbrandt, an analyst for the firm Media Valuation Partners. “You could, and stations did, build their schedules around her. They gave it the best time period, leading into their news, and used it to promote other shows.”

The show has a breadth that no other has been able to match. A serious hour on domestic abuse could be followed the next day by a rollicking party with the Black Eyed Peas. When Whitney Houston and Sarah Palin wanted to talk this fall, Winfrey’s show was their first stop. An endorsement by Winfrey for her book club is a make-or-break opportunity for authors.