- Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah Winfrey. Best Known As: Host of TV's Oprah

Orpah Winfrey is the most successful female talk show host in American TV history.

She dropped out in 1972 during her sophomore year to become an anchor at Nashville's WTVF-TV. She was the first black woman to hold that position.

In 1976, she moved to WJZ-TV and after a stint[u1]  as a reporter was promoted to co-anchor. Two years after her arrival, Winfrey was slotted[u2]  (with some trepidation[u3]  by producers who weren't sure how audiences would respond to a host who was neither white nor thin) to host their talk show People Are Talking.

In 1986 she launched The Oprah Winfrey Show[u4] , a TV talk show which featured celebrity interviews and discussions of social issues. Oprah Winfrey rose from poverty and a troubled youth to become the most powerful and influential woman in television and, according to Forbes Magazine, the world's most highly paid entertainer. The show was a smash[u5]  hit and within a decade she was one of the richest women in the United States.