40 years later: Oprah reflects on starting at ABC7 Chicago, launching 'The Oprah Winfrey Show'
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Forty years ago, a young Oprah Winfrey walked into ABC7 Chicago and changed the course of television.
In an exclusive interview with ABC7's Cheryl Burton, the woman behind the magic reflects on the city and people that helped shape her incredible journey.
Winfrey's first chapter may have been written on the set of "AM Chicago," but the story clearly didn't end there. Forty years later, she's still asking questions, opening doors, and giving people a reason to lean in.
Winfrey's Chicago debut birthed a new era in talk show television. She got her start at ABC7 in 1983, when then-President and General Manager Dennis Swanson hired her to host "AM Chicago."
The year was 1983, and ABC7 Chicago was losing across the board.
"I got sent there to fix it," Swanson said. "I saw a tape of Oprah Winfrey. I thought, 'Oh my God, this is perfect."
Swanson hired the 29-year-old anchor out of Baltimore during a time when race was a polarizing subject in Chicago.
"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,'" Winfrey said. "And Dennis Swanson, he took a chance."
"Well, you know, you could find more glamorous Black people on television than Oprah at the time," he said. "But news isn't always about glamor. It's about believability, credibility, accountability, and trustworthiness. And Oprah was the people on."
Swanson said even when she questioned his decision, he told her this: "I don't want the substitute Oprah Winfrey. I can hire the substitute. I want the original Oprah Winfrey."
"He took a chance putting a Black woman on AM Chicago as a single host. And when I said to him, well, I'm Black, and that's not going to change," Winfrey said.
"I said, 'Lady, I got that figured out,'" Swanson said.
"And I'm overweight," Winfrey said.
"I said, 'So am I,'" Swanson said.
"He said, 'I'm looking at it, and I like what I see,'" Winfrey said.
"I said, 'Don't change a thing,'" Swanson said.
Swanson knew he was hiring a star.
"Dennis Swanson is the reason that I sit where I sit," Winfrey said. "I am, and will be forever indebted to Dennis Swanson."
"I used to say to my producers, 'Let the woman do her thing. Don't try and control that. But you got to let Oprah be Oprah,'" Swanson said. "It became pretty obvious that she was going to be a megastar."
Within a year, ABC7 skyrocketed to number one. Winfrey was a Chicago sensation, and it catapulted her into national syndication in 1986.
"The thing that surprised me is that the people all over the world reacted in the same way that people in Chicago did, and that continues to be one of the most exciting things about being able to have that platform in Chicago. And I don't think any other city would have done it for us," Winfrey said.
Over the years, Winfrey's show made a huge impact on tens of thousands of people. In 2007, she opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for girls in South Africa, a commitment to educating young women. And we were there to witness history in the making.
"That's what I wanted to give back to girls who were like myself," Winfrey said.
Former producers say there was something magical about the show and wonder what it would be like today if "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was still on the air.
"I believe that a lot of things would be different if the show was still on, because we were an agent for change, but also an agent for peace," said Diane Hudson, who was a producer for two decades.
"If I were hosting 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' today, I think it would be the community gathering space for voices on opposite sides of the political arena, opposite sides of every arena, to come together and have conversations," Winfrey said.
"Oprah changed my life because she had a big opportunity that that she shared not just with me or the staff, but with the world," Hudson said.
Kenny Bedford was one of Winfrey's original cameramen.
"Oprah's work ethic was fantastic. I never seen her take a day off, a sick day. She never complained about the job. She just loved working," Bedford said.
Bedford says one of the perks of working with Winfrey was meeting celebrities. But he also says it was working with ordinary people that made it special, too.
"She built that show around average people, and that's the thing that probably carried it through, because everyone could relate to her," Bedford said.
It was that connection with viewers and compelling interviews that fueled the Oprah phenomenon. Paolo Presta was an aspiring actor who dreamed of a career in Hollywood.
"I think of the younger Pablo, who was struggling in so many different ways, and that one show that he would watch every day at 9 a.m. it gave him hope. I always wanted to know that," Presta said.
Winfrey was approachable, and she made people like Presta feel seen during her "Wildest Dreams" bus tour. She granted his wish at his family's grocery store with a surprise role on "Will and Grace." And she grew even more global with her incredibly popular favorite things: show and car giveaways.
"She's here interviewing all these people, making people's dreams come true. So, for me, it's like, OK, if she made his dream come true, maybe she can make my dream come true as well," Presta said.
Winfrey once said she credited what she called the best team in television for making the magic happen.
"The thing that I'm most surprised and also proudest of for myself is that I've been able to stay grounded in spite of all of the incredible things that have happened in my life," Winfrey said.
Today, the media mogul is back behind a microphone with the "Oprah" podcast, bringing the conversations that defined her television career to a new generation.
Burton was in the audience when Winfrey interviewed Tina Knowles, Beyonce's mother. She spoke about her memoir, matriarch, continuing the meaningful conversations that defined Winfrey's television legacy.
"I'm very happy that you're doing this, Cheryl, because everywhere I go, no matter where I go in the world, no matter what country, what language they speak, there is no time that I ever go anywhere where somebody tells me they are not impacted by 'The Oprah Winfrey Show,'" Winfrey said.
Burton remembers the day "The Oprah Winfrey Show" went national 40 years ago. It was a moment filled with Chicago pride. Since then, she has interviewed Winfrey many times over the years, but this time, it was more reflective and filled with a sense of gratitude as she looked back over her extraordinary life.
Winfrey's success was never just about celebrities or headlines. She once told Burton 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.
Winfrey's Chicago story is still evolving. She continues connecting with audiences through her podcast, proving the connection she built with viewers four decades ago remains as powerful as ever.
And there is one more Chicago connection to celebrate. Winfrey recently returned to Chicago for a surprise reunion with former show staffers 40 years after it first went national at Navy Pier.
