AM 1310: The Light » Oprah

Oprah Teams Up With Huffington Post

Donna Schiele — Sat, 26 May 2012 19:14:50 +0000

“The Huffington Post” is making room for Oprah. Media mogul Oprah Winfrey has announced a partnership with the popular online news portal that will see an entire section of the “Huffington Post” dedicated to Winfrey’s OWN TV network. The section will launch in August and will include content from Oprah.com, OWN and “Huffington Post” editors. The collaboration is expected to extend Winfrey’s reach online. “HuffPost” boasts almost 37-million monthly users. Oprah currently has more than eleven-and-a-half-million users on Twitter and seven-million fans on Facebook.

Winfrey, who ended her successful daytime talk show last year, has struggled to match that success with her new cable venture OWN. The network has seen a number of changes at the executive level since its launch in January 2011. Earlier this year OWN laid off 30 staff members and canceled Rosie O’Donnell’s talk show just five months after its premiere citing flagging ratings.

With OWN Reportedly $330 Million in the Hole, Is It Curtains For Oprah?

Newsone Staff — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:56:06 +0000

It was all good just a year ago, as Oprah Winfrey (pictured center), then OWN CEO Christina Norman (pictured left) and David Zaslav, President and CEO of Discovery Communications (pictured right), popped champagne to celebrate the network that was poised to revolutionize cable television. Fast forward to 2012, Norman is gone, fired over dismal ratings, and the riskiest venture of Winfrey’s career is folding under a staggering $330 million in losses, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

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With insiders predicting that OWN will probably fold in a year, the media magnate faces some tough branding decisions if she wants to keep her “baby” from going under:

The Daily Mail reports:

Though ratings have seen a slight insurgence thanks to interview program “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” it has stumbled since the get go with ratings of just 308,000 daily. It is believed shows which do not feature the chat show queen herself are not popular with viewers.Discovery, which partnered with Winfrey to launch the network and has been underwriting its costs, has invested nearly $600 million in it since 2008, according to an extensive report in Businessweek magazine.

Since it started on the air in January 2011, it may have lost as much as $330million, according to the magazine.

Zaslav, who talked Oprah into the idea of OWN, is famously impatient with money-losing operations within his company and insiders say he will not put up with the ailing network’s losses for much longer.

Winfrey appeared before advertisers two weeks ago to ask for more time, telling them: ‘I am in the climb of my life. I am climbing Kilimanjaro.’

Although she doesn’t risk losing a lot of money from the channel’s failings, Oprah’s reputation is at stake.

Over her 39-year career, The Oprah Winfrey Show had as many as 12.5 million viewers. O, The Oprah Magazine had more than two million subscribers. And her Internet site, Oprah.com, draws more than three million unique visitors a month.

Her image as the most successful TV star of her generation is on the line.

E-mails to OWN and Oprah’s production company, Harpo, were not returned yesterday.

OWN’s reputation for scarce ratings went from bad, to worse, to desperate when she begged the Twittersphere for viewers in February. In an attempt to compete with the Grammy Awards, Winfrey sent the following tweet to almost 10 million followers:

“Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Nielsen box.”

Winfrey issued an apology for the tweet, saying “I removed the tweet at the request of Nielsen. I intended no harm and apologize for the reference.”

Citing a specific category of violation, titled, “Falsified Reporting or Attempts to Coerce Nielsen Panel Members,” the company issued a statement of it’s own, saying, “In accordance with our policies and procedures, Nielsen is reviewing this incident with out clients…We take any violation of our policy seriously and will work with clients to resolve the situation.”

Maybe Lady O’s issues can be solved with a change in programming; after all, it worked for her in 1994 when she made a conscious decision to separate herself from the “trash pack,” consisting of Jerry Springer, Ricky Lake, Montel Williams and others.

We would say that only time will tell, but time is apparently running out.

Still, regardless of what happens with OWN, Winfrey will undoubtedly reinvent herself and bounce back. She always has.

First Look: Bobbi Kristina On Oprah

elev8 Staff — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:01:38 +0000

Bobbi Kristina will share personal memories of her late mother and will reflect on how she would like the iconic superstar to be remembered. The family will also address the rumors and speculation surrounding Houston’s death. In a brief sneak peak video released by OWN, Oprah asks two questions: “Does it feel real yet [that she's gone]?” and “As a big brother, how did you feel about Bobby Brown?

Will you be tuning in? Make sure to read what the show revealed and what Bobbi Kristina said here.

Oprah Talks About Moving Closer To God

praiseindy Staff — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:02:21 +0000

Oprah To Revamp Website Due To Sinking Ratings

praiseindy Staff — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:10:50 +0000

Oprah Winfrey is meeting with top technology players in an attempt to revamp her flagship site Oprah.com, whose traffic has declined since her popular talk show went off the air in May.

According to comScore, a leading Internet research company, Oprah.com went from 5.1 unique visitors back in January to 2.4 million by July.

To reverse this trend, Oprah will be sitting down with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, along with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Demand Media’s Richard Rosenblatt and LinkedIn’s Jeff Weiner.

Discovery and Winfrey have partnered on a the high-profile launch of OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. Since its January debut, the fledgling channel has struggled with management turnover and disappointing ratings.

AWA Previews Oprah’s Final Episodes

Amos Brown — Sat, 21 May 2011 12:53:53 +0000

Audio Included in Post. Runs 12 Minutes ©2011 WTLC/Radio One. This Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are the last original episodes of the Oprah Winfrey Show. They include two star studded “surprise” episodes taped at the United Center in Chicago. Indianapolis entrepeneur and occasional Afternoons with Amos Guest Host Linda Clemons was in the United Center for the tapings and checked out the after party. She shared what she saw, heard and felt in an exclusive in person report with on Afternoons with Amos. Hear Linda’s interview above. And check out the final original Oprah shows on WTHR/Channel 13.

Oprah & Ex-BFF Iyanla Vanzant Reunite

praiseindy Staff — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:14:48 +0000

Oprah Winfrey will get another emotional visit from the past today, but this time it’s not from a long-lost relative…The talk show host will reunite with her former BFF Iyanla Vanzant,an inspirational speaker and spiritual life coach who was featured regularly on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in the late ’90s. The two lost touch when Vanzant left to do her own very short-lived syndicated talk show produced by Oprah’s rival Barbara Walters.

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Here’s a teaser from today’s show:

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Iyanla Vanzant On Oprah

praiseindy Staff — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 21:23:06 +0000

Oprah and Iyanla are talking about their past relationship hurt!

During her 25th and final season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Oprah has been revisiting key figures from the show’s long and storied history. On Wednesday’s episode, we’ll see Oprah reunite with her one-time sidekick Iyanla Vanzant for an in-depth look at the dissolution of their professional relationship.

In case you don’t remember, Vanzant was a frequent guest on “Oprah” in the ’90s. An inspirational speaker and author of a plethora of self-help books like “Faith in the Valley: Lessons for Women on the Journey to Peace,” Vanzant was one of Oprah’s underlings before Dr. Phil, Nate Berkus, and Suze Ormand found themselves graced by her Midas touch.

In 2000, she was listed as one of the 100 most influential black Americans by Ebony Magazine, and Vanzant had her own show in 2001. It was canceled after 6 months, and she was seldom heard from again as a result of her estrangement from Oprah.

Apparently, the estrangement was the result of Vanzant making a demand of Oprah that seemed like an ultimatum, and Oprah does not negotiate with terrorists gold diggers anyone, because she’s Oprah.

We can’t wait to get the full scoop on Wednesday’s showdown. It looks like things are going to get heated as Vanzant begs Oprah to hear her side of the story.

Iyanla will be here at Women’s Empowerment Saturday March 5th at the Old National Building formerly known as the Murat Theater!

WBW Honors: Oprah Winfrey

praiseindy Staff — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 17:00:02 +0000

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A woman who believes “luck is preparation meeting opportunity,” Oprah Gail Winfrey has continuously shattered gender and racial barriers in America. Winfrey is the most successful talk show host in American TV history — male or female, Black or white — and the first female African-American billionaire. As one of the most influential women in the world, Winfrey continues to be a beacon that transcends racial and social barriers, much like Barack Obama. In 2006, Winfrey endorsed Obama for president, her first public political stance ever. She accompanied the Obamas on the campaign trail. But perhaps her greatest contribution to the ascendance of Barack Obama is how she prepared America for him through her show, as an African-American who won the hearts of women from all walks of life.

Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi to unwed teenage parents, Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey. Her parents sent her to live with her grandmother, where she learned to read by the age of three. Despite living in poverty, she excelled in school, later receiving a full-scholarship to Tennessee State University.

Winfrey’s career blossomed when she moved to Chicago in 1984 to host “AM Chicago,” a morning talk show at WLS-TV’s. It soon became the number one ranked talk show and was renamed “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” In 1988, she became the first African-American woman in the American entertainment industry to own her production company, Harpo Productions.

In addition to being a daytime TV pioneer, Winfrey is a generous philanthropist, often making significant contributions to those in need. She donated $10 million to help re-build the lives of Hurricane Katrina victims. Winfrey spent $40 million building the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. She personally selected all of the girls from low-income families to attend the boarding school.

Throughout her success, Winfrey has used her influence to bring about change on various platforms. In 2007, Winfrey held a fundraiser for Obama at her estate, and went on to rally in the early primary states: South Carolina, New Hampshire and Iowa.

Her show continues to attract an estimated 14 million viewers daily in the U.S. and millions more in 141 other countries throughout the world. Winfrey’s resilience continues to shine as she sets an example of excellence and perseverance. But most of all, she has become daily staple for women across America, women who saw in Oprah someone they trusted, someone who was in many ways just like them. In so doing, she lifted Obama to the presidency, both directly and symbolically.

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Oprah Winfrey Reveals She Has A Half Sister

praiseindy Staff — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:54:54 +0000