Looking back on launch of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' 40 years later
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Forty years ago Tuesday, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" launched and national and television was never quite the same.
The year was 1983 and ABC7 Chicago was losing across the board.
"I got sent there to fix it," Dennis Swanson former President and General Manager of ABC7, said.
Swanson was the new president and general manager of WLS, and he had a secret weapon.
"I saw a tape of Oprah Winfrey. I thought, 'Oh my God, this is perfect,'" Swanson said.
Within a year, ABC7 skyrocketed to number one. Swanson hired the 29-year-old anchor out of Baltimore during a time when race was a polarizing subject in Chicago.
"She said, 'You know, I'm Black.' I said, 'Lady, I got that figured out.' And she says, 'You know, I'm overweight.' I said, 'So am I.' I said, 'Don't change a thing.'"
And she didn't. Oprah's authenticity and intellect took her and ABC7 Chicago to new heights.
"I am, I am, and will be forever indebted to Dennis Swanson," Oprah said.
"Well, you know, you could find more glamorous black people on television than Oprah at the time," Swanson said. "But news isn't always about glamor. It's about believability, credibility, accountability, and trustworthiness. And Oprah was the people on."
"It became pretty obvious that she was going to be a megastar," Swanson said.
And even Oprah had something to say about her time spent under the leadership of Dennis Swanson.
"He took a chance on me at a time when everybody told me, don't even go to Chicago, because Chicago is one of the most racist cities," Oprah said. "And Dennis Swanson, he took a chance.
Oprah's success was never just about celebrities or headlines. She once told me that after interviewing tens of thousands of people, the most important lesson she learned was simple people just wanted to be seen and validated. It was a powerful message that guided her to do good work. And that, she said, was truthful to who she was.
