Oh, No Oprah Don’t Go

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Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Jeff Derderian, GoLocalProv Media Critic

For the Oprah show which airs here in Providence on Channel 10 – it’s been the longest goodbyes in TV history. Well almost anyway. The queen of talk TV - Oprah Winfrey is calling it quits after 25-years on the air. She announced in November 2009 that she was ending her hugely successful show and now you can write this date down on your calendar: The last ever “Oprah Winfrey Show” will air on May 25th right here on Channel 10. That is a Wednesday for anyone that is wondering.

A great run for WJAR

For local stations, like Channel 10, this run has been unbelievable. The millions of dollars in ad revenue generated by Oprah at stations across the country is no doubt mind numbing. You may not remember, but, Oprah used to air on Channel 12 until September 1993 when it switched over to Channel 10. That’s an 18-year run for the NBC affiliate. Oprah was a massive "lead in". Lead in programming is so key to every station in town. A “lead in” is defined as a program that comes before a particular news cast. Lead in is important to stations who count on it for the “carry over” effect which means hopefully you start watching at 4pm and stay through the 6:00pm news – taking in all of their news content.

Channel 10 has benefited so much over the nearly 20-year run by Oprah. So replacing her becomes almost impossible from a ratings and revenue point of view.

Ok, so who gets the Oprah gig?

Lisa Churchville, President & General Manager telling GOLOCAL that the Oprah slot will now be the Ellen DeGeneres Show airing 4pm to 5pm. Churchville, a leader in broadcasting herself, was asked about how Oprah has changed television from a small beginning. “Oprah started, a lot like Regis and Kathie Lee – as a morning show in a top 10 TV market --- it was called "AM Chicago" and it premiered in the early 80’s on WLS in Chicago. Dennis Swanson, then the General Manager of WLS TV, is credited with bringing the show into syndication. The show continued to air in the mornings in Chicago, though many stations air it where we do, in the afternoon as a lead-in the early news.” said Churchville.

As Churchville indicates, the real pioneer in all of this day time talk stuff was Phil Donahue. Before that most single host shows were of a variety show type that centered around performers. Shows like Merv Griffen and Joey Bishop. So Oprah changed the type of viewer for Channel 10 according to Churchville. “Oprah, like Donahue, has been an intelligent show which has made it a very strong lead-in for news programming. Other types of daytime programming (court programs, game shows, shock talk) haven’t been as attractive to news viewers and, even when the ratings do well, the programs don’t help local newscasts.”

OWN Network is Next Chapter

Oprah, as powerful as she is, has the money and branding to start her own network. Not many people in today’s television could do that sort of thing. So far the viewership for her struggling cable network has been less than great. But, no one should think Oprah will go down without a fight or spending what it takes for success. 

As far as Oprah’s last show, no word on yet on who the final guest or guests will be – so even till the end Oprah creating some hype which by all accounts should be a ratings bonanza for her and stations like Channel 10.

But don’t expect Ellen to be Oprah no matter what channel she is on. That you can bet on.

Jeff Derderian is a former television news reporter and anchor both in Providence and Boston. He is one of the founders of the Station Education Fund. He can be reached at [email protected]

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