November 30, 2011 • 29 mins
Today Oprah Winfrey is one of the world's most famous people, but how did she get her start? In this episode, Cristen and Caroline look at Oprah's impact by the numbers, along with the controversy and criticism Oprah has encountered during her career.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff mom never told you?
From house Stop works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline, or should I
(00:20):
say welcome to the Oprah Winfree Show show, the show
about Oprah Win Show. Yes, thank you, I'm glad to
be here. We we just for this episode. We brought
in uh comfy couches so that Caroline can jump on
it because I'm in love with Katie Holmes and yeah,
(00:41):
well we Kristen brought in a wagon of fat. Yes,
and I also wrote a fictional memoir yes, that I
will accuse you of all sorts of things. It's called
A Million Little Podcasts. Wow, Wow, Here we go. Here
we go, folks. Get ready because we're talking about Oprah
today because on two th eleven, a date that will
(01:07):
live in infamy, the last episode of The Oprah Win
Free Show aired. It did, and then I mean she
started her own network, so yes, she didn't. She didn't
go far. The Oprah Win Free Network, which I'll go
ahead and stay upfront that Discovery Communications, which is the
owner of how stuffwork dot Com is affiliated with so
we'll keep our upper Win free network comments at bay
(01:30):
because we really need to just talk about the woman
and the show, because she's one of the most powerful
and influential women in the world. Okay, so where where
do we start? I say we start with the show
and talk about exactly how many people it has sucked
into its orbit. Let's go for it. That is forty
eight million people we're viewers of the show, regular viewers
(01:55):
of the show. That's a lot of people. She affected
the lives of so many people, whether she was telling
you to buy a Panini press or you know, helping
you overcome something terrible in your life, or giving you
a Pontiac G six sedan. Oh god, let me tell Okay, sidebar,
my mother religiously watched Oprah for years. For years, every
(02:16):
day four o'clock watched Oprah. She the day what I
don't remember what favorite Things episode it was, but those
episodes always made her so angry. Why because she wasn't
getting the stuff. She's like, I have to watch all
of these strangers get all of this stuff. She called
her sister crying. One of the last I don't know
(02:38):
it was in the past couple of years. She called
her sister crying, and her sister was watching the show too,
and they just sat there and complain because she wanted
the favorite things so badly. Yeah, those are some cool
favorite things, it would be Oprah has a good taste
in like pajamas and stuff, pajamas and Panini's. Uh see,
forty million viewers, hundred and fifty countries. The Oprah Winfree
(03:00):
Show is beamed too. And just in terms of ad
dollars alone, to give you an idea of the value
of this talk show, a thirty second ad spot during
her show, Um, as it came toward the finale on
could run you a cool million millas. Yeah, it was
not cheap. No, I don't think I could just run
(03:22):
like a personal ad. It's like a super Bowl of
regular television talk shows. Yeah, every day, every day of
the Super Bowl. And what kind of stuff did she
talk about, Caroline, Well, I mean part of her popularity
was definitely that she brought so many previously taboo topics
(03:42):
to the forefront. Um, I mean, yeah, she had her
favorite things episodes which were definitely very popular. Everybody wanted
to tune in and be told what to purchase UM.
But I mean she brought stuff forward, UM, like incests,
domestic abuse, sexuality, addiction, depression, AIDS, and she used her
own stories to sort of bring people into it, because
(04:04):
I think it was in the eighties during a show
was like the eighty eight or eight seven where she
admitted to her viewers the whole public that you know,
she had been abused as a child and a young uh,
young adult also uh. And of course Oprah is not
without her critics and her controversies, which will also talk about,
(04:24):
because for all of the influence that she has gained
over the twenty five years that she was on the air,
she has also launched the careers of other people such
as Dr Phil dr oz Um, Rachel Ray in fact,
which I wish I didn't realize Rachel I used to
be on our show and UM and also the Oprah
(04:45):
Book Club that has made so many authors so much
money and actually brought reading into the mainstream again. Some
people might argue and uh, yeah, with great power becomes
great responsibility, and some people think maybe she's abused our responsibility.
But you know, at the same time, she's done a
(05:05):
lot of good as well, which we'll talk about with
her philanthropy, right yeah, Well, speaking of philanthropy, she's reportedly
given three fifty million dollars of her own money to
charitable organizations, and through her show she's managed to raise
more than fifty one million, which is pretty impressive. I
believe the honorary Oscar that she was given this year
(05:27):
was specifically for her philanthropic work. And for instance, in
two thousand seven, she opened that leadership Academy for girls
in South Africa, also kind of controversial, um, kind of
considering whether or not that was the best way to
uh to reach out to those girls. Right. Well, she
also had she started the twelve million dollar endowment at
(05:49):
More House, So that's a way of lifting people up.
You know, she's she's trying to practice what she preaches
basically on her show. And she's also invested a lot
specifically into the Chicago community because Chicago is really where
she got her start in television. And speaking of which,
why don't we, why don't we offer a little bio
of Oprah Gail Winfrey born January Yeah, come with us,
(06:14):
Come with us to Mississippi. Yeah, yes, come to the
farm on Mississippi where Oprah was born to her unwed
teenage mother, and she was initially raised by her grandmother
on the farm, and then she was sent off to
Milwaukee to live with her mother. And she had a
rather promising childhood and elementary school. Uh, she was a
(06:38):
star pupil and one of the television episodes she actually
brought back her favorite teacher from elementary school who kind
of remember remember um. She also enjoyed church involvement school activity,
as she was frequently the one called on to you know,
say prayers or she handed out Graham crackers at school.
(07:00):
She liked she was a participator. She was a joiner, yes,
kind of a star personality from the get go. But
then at the age of nine, she was molested and
raped by her cousin who took care of her and
her siblings while her mother was at work. And then um,
in her adolescence she was also raped by an uncle
and a family friend, which really started, I mean just
(07:23):
this kind of history of personal tragedy in Oprah's life. Yeah.
She there was actually a quote from her where she
was reflecting on her childhood of abuse and she just said,
at one point I just had the thought of like, Okay,
well this is life like this is what it's like.
You know, how do I get away from this? But
one thing she did say also is that from the
very young, very tender age of four, she had this
(07:46):
idea and that there's a lot of talk about Oprah's
idea UM that she had for herself and that she
never let go of. And she said that it was
sparked when she was four years old on on her
grandmother's farm and her grandmother was, you know, hanging clothes
on the line or you know, doing chores and stuff,
and she was like, well, you're gonna have to learn
how to do this to one day, and Oprah was gone, no,
(08:09):
I'm not. I'm getting mad at here. I'm not doing
what you're doing. So from a very young age, she
was determined to be different, to achieve more and just
rise up sort of beyond where she was. Now. With
all of the childhood sexual trauma that was going on
um and her getting pregnant at the age of fourteen,
it seemed like that dream that Oprah had would certainly
(08:33):
not be fulfilled, that she was only following in the
footsteps of her mother Um. She because she had been
acting out. Actually, she was sent to live with her
father in Nashville, and her father is just horrified and
ashamed at his fourteen year old daughter is pregnant, but
she ends up losing the baby, and in a way,
this is really the huge turning point for oprah Or
(08:54):
She refocuses herself in school and I think she actually,
I don't know, she graduated early, but she was um
her coursework was ahead of her age group, and she
ends up earning a full scholarship to Tennessee State University.
And in nineteen seventy one, her real big break begins
when she wins two pageant titles in that year, Missfire
(09:16):
Missfire Prevention in Miss Black, Tennessee. And when she wins
Miss Black Tennessee, she's noticed by the local black radio
station w v o L that hires her as an
on air reporter, and this starts her career in media
right and the rest is history. Goodnight, Yeah no, yeah, yeah,
(09:38):
she really she really got going from a very young
age and eventually started She had a morning show. In
four she breaks into the talks show circuit in Chicago,
hosting AM Chicago in the same time slot as Phil Donahue.
And the interesting thing is, uh, Phil Donahue was one
(09:58):
of the pioneers in sort of the the girl talk
talk show format. Um, but he's going up again, or
Oprah's going up against him, And needless to say, we
all know what happens. Oprah gets her own show, AM
Chicago is expanded in ninetune and eighties six to an
hour long format, and eventually Phil Donahue goes down the tubes.
(10:22):
Right Well, oprad just has this way of relating to people.
She she you know, she walked out into the audience,
she was part of the audience. She was asking questions
of her guests, whether it was a celebrity and author
or a criminal or you know, just a single mother.
You know, she was asking questions that the audience themselves
would want to know. And so she had this way
(10:43):
of dealing with people, this this sort of empathy that
that made them more comfortable and able to share things.
And she's just I guess she took her past experiences
and we're able to was able to really use those
on the show. And like you said, Caroline, Um, when
she so open, initially very early in those talk show
(11:03):
days about her history of sexual abuse, it really dismantled
that fourth wall between the viewer and you know that
person on the television talking directly to them and relating
directly to them. And even now twenty five years later,
when she is, you know, one of the richest women
in the world, people are still able to relate to
(11:26):
her on a very just kind of friendly basis. You know,
like they would just run into her on the street
and like, hey, let's go get lunch over. Yeah, she's
someone he's seeing a grocery store and just be able
to have a chat with even though she's obviously running
in circles so beyond you know, the everyday viewers. Yeah,
(11:46):
but no, she well, part of her popularity is that
she understands the full range of the quote unquote female experience.
She knows that being a woman is not just about shopping,
but it's not just about being a other and having
a family. There's there's a whole range of things to
being a woman. And Caitlin Flanagan in The Atlantic I
(12:07):
thought had a good quote about it. Um She said
that Oprah can move so easily between episodes about on
the one hand, rape and domestic violence and on the
other shopping and decorating, demonstrates not a lack of focus,
but the fact that she understands the full equation of
the female experiences in ways that few others have. Yeah,
and it's not only just the female experience, but also
(12:29):
the black female experience on television so open for one
of the first times. And that's something that too, that
she's been um very consistent with of supporting the black
community and supporting other black women. And I think that's
one of the reasons too, why she's made such a
significant impact, because she's I don't know, I feel like
(12:50):
she's been able to in her own way, lover or
hate her being able to bridge certain communities. Yeah, Well,
she was inspired by so many different women on television,
so I think she took bits and pieces from everybody
and you know, and then incorporated them into her own experience.
You know. She said that she had so much admiration
for m Mary Tyler Moore, and she was so excited
(13:12):
to see Diana Ross on television and seeing Sitney Portier
getting out of a limousine at the Academy Award. So
she was just so inspired by all of these things
she saw on television and other women hosting talk shows
and everything that you know, she was able to combine
her knowledge, her life experience with a really stethy television
show exactly, with an incredible amount of influence. For instance,
(13:37):
with the Oprah book Club. We gotta talk about the
open book Club. Um. It was launched in and the
first book that she promotes was Jacqueline Mitchard's The Deep
End of the Ocean. And since then, the number of
books sold since being selected on her show million. Yeah,
(13:57):
that's crazy. Yeah, and only eleven of the books that
she's ever singled out have not made it onto the
USA Today bestseller list. Basically, if Oprah likes your book,
you are right piny press in your vacuum cleaner or whatever. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
She There's been a lot there's been a lot of
flak over this whole book club thing because on the
(14:21):
one hand, it's getting people to read, you know, like
she's encouraging people to read. She's bringing people in and
being like, yes, country as a whole, let's let's all
read this book together and talk about it. It's it
gives people a sense of community. Um. Even though it's
on television and she's so rich and so far, you know,
you're still part of something. And so she's encouraging all
(14:43):
these people to read. But on the other hand, there
are a lot of people who say, well, you're not
picking the right kinds of books, or your book club
is not cool enough for my book, which was the
case with Jonathan Franzen. Oh yeah, please please talk about
this Jonathan Franson con troversy because this one. I was
not aware of this the frans and episode right. He um,
(15:07):
he wrote the novel Corrections, which is fantastic. Recommend it.
I mean, it's good that you like it. Have you
ever watched Oprah? Because he doesn't think that people who
watch Oprah would get his book. He said that it
would be too hard for them, and basically saying that
it would be too hard for the stereotypical middle aged
(15:28):
housewife to read this book. Basically, I'm like, yeah, that's
nice and all, but don't put your corporate logo on
my book. Come on, I read that. That was my
pool side read a few summers ago, not that challenge,
and I did not need my unabridged dictionary beside need
to figure out thet your old English. Yeah, I'm magnifying glass.
(15:53):
And also, I mean she sent Tolstoy's Ana Karenina back
up to number one in what two thousand work. But
I mean I've never I mean I've never even read
Anna Current. Really, I mean, I admit it. Hey they're fine. Hey,
maybe you should join the Open Book Club. I know,
well I didn't pick up I picked up Love in
the Time of Cholera the grocery store. You know we've
(16:15):
in our in our romance novel podcast, we talked about
mass market paperbacks like sold it you know whatever big
box store, the grocery store or whatever, And yeah, there
are Oprah Book Club books at the grocery store. And
so I picked up Love in the topic and so
went along with my serious whatever. And some of it
is fantastic literature. I mean, I think the fact that
so many more people now know about authors such as
(16:35):
Tony Morrison and Alice Walker, who are two of Oprah's
most favorite, uh female authors, I would attribute that to Oprah.
But at the same time, though, we got to talk
about things like The Secret. Oh yeah, pseudo science. Yeah,
she's definitely gotten a lot of flak for her promotion
of pseudo science. So books like The Secret, which basically say, um,
(16:58):
so all these bad things that are happening to you,
you're just not putting enough positive energy out into the universe.
It's your fault. It's all about the the universal law
of attraction. And you know, I have met people who
firmly believe in the power of the Secret. I personally
have never read The Secret Um. But at the same time,
(17:21):
and you know, when you have that again, it's going
by to that thing of what do you do when
you have such incredible influence like Oprah has when you
make decisions to promote things like the Secret And bring
Jenny McCarthy on to talk about autism vaccine connection that
is yet to be verified by any kind of scientific study.
(17:43):
You can read more about that on how Stuffworks dot
com if you don't believe me, Um, And bring on
Susanne Summers who is going over her her controversial health
regimen to keep her young in the vein of Sam
Parks and recreation Rob blows character who will live forever. Um. Yeah.
(18:05):
And then you know, launching the careers of people like
Dr Phil who again probably has just as many if
not more critics as he does followers. Well, all this
all this stuff that we were just talking about about
pseudoscience and whatnot, and how you know, there's there's all
this talk of Oprah and the Oprah Show as a
religion and how you know, she was raised um in
(18:29):
the Baptist Church and so religion played a big part
in her life, and like we said, as as a child,
church was really important to her. But you know, through
her show she sort of promoted all of this this
just different veins, just different types of religion. And she's
talked about different ways to find spirituality, and that's kind
of the key is that she's definitely focused more on
(18:52):
spirituality and finding in her peace than she is talking
about like a particular religion. Catherine Lofton, she's an assistant
professor of American Studies and Religious Studies at Yale, has
has a lot to say about Oprah. Yeah. In fact,
she wrote a book called Oprah The Gospel of an
icon She argues that Oprah has become a religion quote
(19:14):
because she invites ritual processes towards her and her iconography.
Foster's produced ritual and that ritual critics day, is that
people run out and buy stuff, sort of the little
idea of consumption fulfilling that self need. But at the
same time, like you can argue with so many different ways.
(19:35):
Because yes, obviously with segments like favorite things, um, you
can say that that promotes just a false consumerism, and
yes there's a studoscience aspect of it, um, but it
does seem like the root of all of it. It's
not a bad message that she is promoting at the
end of the day, which is living your best life
(19:57):
and enriching yourself and also being been and sharing your
experiences with other people. UM. I don't know, it's kind
of it's kind of hard. It's like I keep doing
this motion with my hands of the weighing the scales
because there there's you know, stuffing you can say on
on either side. And for someone like me, like I
(20:18):
feel like I'm a very uh, basically like Switzerland when
it comes to Oprah. I never really grew up with Oprah. Um.
My mom never really followed Oprah. I had roommates, um
who were really obsessed with Oprah. But I just I
don't know, she was never really that much a part
of my life. So I recognize the impact that she
has and also have been taken aback at certain times
(20:41):
by you know, maybe pulling out a wagon of sixty
pounds of lard and choosing to promote certain things. It's
interesting how strong the reactions are to Oprah, Like people
out there are obsessed with her, like they might do
you know, like the Michael Jackson concert thing and totally
start trying to pass out, or you know, they just
(21:03):
totally slam her and say that she's fake, she's materialistic.
You know, she's promoting all of this junk science. But
you know, I'm the same way as as you. I
can you know, I see the good she does. She's
encouraging people to read, you know, she's encouraging people to
overcome bad circumstances in their life. Um so yeah, I
(21:24):
mean I don't I read OH Magazine, which we haven't
mentioned OH Magazine. Forbes named OH Magazine the most successful
startup in the entire industry. Ever. Yeah, when you already
have a humongous base of of fans and followers and
people who love you and who will do anything that
(21:46):
you say, I mean, yeah, yeah. I think the time
when I was most astonished by Oprah's sheer power was
during the presidential election and the controversial way that she
had in uh pulling for Barack Obama. I mean it
was It's incredible. Um, and the fact that I talked.
(22:09):
I mean, think about it, like down a talk show
host can go into the political arena and show up
at a rally with Obama and be like, this is
who I have picked. I mean, like what other what
other Larry King couldn't do that? I mean, like what
other talk show hosts could do that? Incredible that she
can do that and yet still form that in sociological terms,
(22:31):
that paras social relationship with a viewer that allows us
to still you know, people like your mom to still
relate to her as a friend. Yeah, women's talk, women's talk,
I mean lover or hater like you. You've got to
give it to Oprah that she has done something pretty incredible.
And now that she's you know, moved into this new
(22:53):
project of trying to build her own network, it will
be really interesting to see whether or not that influence
will only row or if it will wayne. But at
this point, I mean, she's wow, yea, and hey, you
know what, if you want to put yourself on the
cover of your own magazine every month, I say do it.
If your magazine do whatever you want, I'll read it.
I don't care. I know, people people use the fact
(23:16):
that Oprah's only had she's had a She shared the
cover with Michelle Obama and who else and with Ellen Degenerous.
I think it was in the same year. So she's like,
let's knock it all out of once. And people say,
you know, use it as some sign of this mego maniac. Yeah,
And of course there are you know, the gossipy anecdotes
(23:36):
about her being just an incredibly demanding and crazy boss
to work for. And I'm sure when you are running
one of the most successful production companies in modern media, yeah,
you probably are putting in sixteen hour days. And I'm
sure if you're one of the most powerful woman in
the world, you probably do get kind of crazy sometime. Hey,
I get cranky when I'm tired and I am on
(23:57):
you know, I'm managing nothing. And I think it's pretty
impressive that a woman who has ranked the number three
most powerful woman in the world behind Michelle Obama and
Irene Rosenfeld who's an executive at Craft, has kept her
love life private. I mean, we all everyone in the
world knows who Steadman Graham is, right, and Gail King
her best friend, and all the absurd speculations that go on, right,
(24:20):
But I mean, I think it's pretty impressive when you
have celebrity divorces and babies and marriages and whatever on
the news all the time, Like two seconds after they happen.
You know, nobody's chasing down Opra being like, oh God,
let me get a picture of you eating with Steadman.
Opra doesn't need it. She yeah, she just waves her
finger and it's like nope. Well imagine. I mean, if
you are that influential and that a list of a celebrity,
(24:44):
you gotta I'm sure you have to protect your privacy
fiercely or else. I mean, you're just never going to
have any time off the camera. What else can we see?
I mean, there's just so much. There's so much to Oprah.
She's multifaceted. She she impresses me so much the fact
that she, as a four year old, had this idea
(25:04):
that she was going to be different, and she proceeded
to take every opportunity that she could and she rose
to the stature that she has now. And if anything,
you gotta give it to her for bringing those taboo
subjects out of the closet and talking about them and
making us maybe more comfortable um talking about issues amongst
(25:24):
ourselves too taken down that fourth wall. So even for
non daytime fans like myself, I do. I gotta give
respect for respects do and Oprah? You got it? That's
all I got to say. Double And I'm sure that
listeners out there have so many diverse opinions on Oprah.
(25:47):
Do you love her? You hate her? Are you completely indifferent?
Has your mother cries because of her shows? Have you
ever gotten the favorite thing? Oh my God? Or a car?
About jeez? Let us know. Let us know your thoughts. Mom.
Stuff at how stuff works dot Com is the address,
and you can also hit us up on Facebook about that.
In the meantime, I got a little listener email here
(26:09):
about breakup songs, and this is from Brian in Canada
and he says, a few years ago, I was seeing
this lovely woman and we had a great romance until
the day she told me she was leaving. Crushed and angry.
I didn't know how to get over my funk until
one day my roommates were watching the television show The
(26:30):
o C and having never wanted to view anything from
Orange County, I still found myself drawn towards the show,
seeing how the cast would work through their problems, which
helped me understand that it does happen to everyone at
some point in time. That led me to getting off
the couch and I set out to have a new life,
(26:51):
which I am happy to say is being married to
my beautiful wife. So who knew the the O C
was his? His post break up therapy guy has a
big head in that show. I don't know what his
name is. I get distracted by that stuff. If your
head is too big, I just can't even talk to
you anyway. Okay, this is an email from Lisa. This
(27:12):
is also about our breakup podcast Breakup Song Podcast. She says,
I've been married for over twenty two years, so I
haven't needed to listen to breakup songs for a long time.
But I love your podcast and really enjoyed your recent episode.
I wanted to let you know the three songs that
I listened to when I went through my very first
horrendous breakup. It's funny to say this now, but my
(27:32):
mom was a tough lady and said, you got three
days to wallow and then you move on to find
a better man. She's from Texas, so on day one
I listened to Staying along with and cried to these
eyes by the guests who. On day two, I needed
to hear something a bit more upbeat to get me
out of the funk I was in, so I listened
to Burn Rubber Why You Want to Hurt Me by
(27:54):
the Gap Band. And on day three I needed something
empowering to say goodbye to the man who broke my
heart get me ready to go out again and take
a chance on love, so I picked a Girlfriend by Pebbles.
Thanks for the list. Yeah, We've had so many awesome
breakup songs coming in our inbox and on Facebook and
almost makes me want to date someone so I can
(28:14):
break up with them and listen to all of it. Well,
may or maybe just make a playlist or that's much
better idea. Anyway. Mom's seven hour Stuff Works dot Com
is our listener email address, or you can find us
on Facebook or hit us up on Twitter at mom
Stuff Podcast, And of course there's the blog during the
(28:34):
week stuff Mom Never Told You at how Stuff Works
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(29:02):
thousand twelve Camry. It's ready, are you
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It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff mom never told you?
From house Stop works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline, or should I
(00:20):
say welcome to the Oprah Winfree Show show, the show
about Oprah Win Show. Yes, thank you, I'm glad to
be here. We we just for this episode. We brought
in uh comfy couches so that Caroline can jump on
it because I'm in love with Katie Holmes and yeah,
(00:41):
well we Kristen brought in a wagon of fat. Yes,
and I also wrote a fictional memoir yes, that I
will accuse you of all sorts of things. It's called
A Million Little Podcasts. Wow, Wow, Here we go. Here
we go, folks. Get ready because we're talking about Oprah
today because on two th eleven, a date that will
(01:07):
live in infamy, the last episode of The Oprah Win
Free Show aired. It did, and then I mean she
started her own network, so yes, she didn't. She didn't
go far. The Oprah Win Free Network, which I'll go
ahead and stay upfront that Discovery Communications, which is the
owner of how stuffwork dot Com is affiliated with so
we'll keep our upper Win free network comments at bay
(01:30):
because we really need to just talk about the woman
and the show, because she's one of the most powerful
and influential women in the world. Okay, so where where
do we start? I say we start with the show
and talk about exactly how many people it has sucked
into its orbit. Let's go for it. That is forty
eight million people we're viewers of the show, regular viewers
(01:55):
of the show. That's a lot of people. She affected
the lives of so many people, whether she was telling
you to buy a Panini press or you know, helping
you overcome something terrible in your life, or giving you
a Pontiac G six sedan. Oh god, let me tell Okay, sidebar,
my mother religiously watched Oprah for years. For years, every
(02:16):
day four o'clock watched Oprah. She the day what I
don't remember what favorite Things episode it was, but those
episodes always made her so angry. Why because she wasn't
getting the stuff. She's like, I have to watch all
of these strangers get all of this stuff. She called
her sister crying. One of the last I don't know
(02:38):
it was in the past couple of years. She called
her sister crying, and her sister was watching the show too,
and they just sat there and complain because she wanted
the favorite things so badly. Yeah, those are some cool
favorite things, it would be Oprah has a good taste
in like pajamas and stuff, pajamas and Panini's. Uh see,
forty million viewers, hundred and fifty countries. The Oprah Winfree
(03:00):
Show is beamed too. And just in terms of ad
dollars alone, to give you an idea of the value
of this talk show, a thirty second ad spot during
her show, Um, as it came toward the finale on
could run you a cool million millas. Yeah, it was
not cheap. No, I don't think I could just run
(03:22):
like a personal ad. It's like a super Bowl of
regular television talk shows. Yeah, every day, every day of
the Super Bowl. And what kind of stuff did she
talk about, Caroline, Well, I mean part of her popularity
was definitely that she brought so many previously taboo topics
(03:42):
to the forefront. Um, I mean, yeah, she had her
favorite things episodes which were definitely very popular. Everybody wanted
to tune in and be told what to purchase UM.
But I mean she brought stuff forward, UM, like incests,
domestic abuse, sexuality, addiction, depression, AIDS, and she used her
own stories to sort of bring people into it, because
(04:04):
I think it was in the eighties during a show
was like the eighty eight or eight seven where she
admitted to her viewers the whole public that you know,
she had been abused as a child and a young uh,
young adult also uh. And of course Oprah is not
without her critics and her controversies, which will also talk about,
(04:24):
because for all of the influence that she has gained
over the twenty five years that she was on the air,
she has also launched the careers of other people such
as Dr Phil dr oz Um, Rachel Ray in fact,
which I wish I didn't realize Rachel I used to
be on our show and UM and also the Oprah
(04:45):
Book Club that has made so many authors so much
money and actually brought reading into the mainstream again. Some
people might argue and uh, yeah, with great power becomes
great responsibility, and some people think maybe she's abused our responsibility.
But you know, at the same time, she's done a
(05:05):
lot of good as well, which we'll talk about with
her philanthropy, right yeah, Well, speaking of philanthropy, she's reportedly
given three fifty million dollars of her own money to
charitable organizations, and through her show she's managed to raise
more than fifty one million, which is pretty impressive. I
believe the honorary Oscar that she was given this year
(05:27):
was specifically for her philanthropic work. And for instance, in
two thousand seven, she opened that leadership Academy for girls
in South Africa, also kind of controversial, um, kind of
considering whether or not that was the best way to
uh to reach out to those girls. Right. Well, she
also had she started the twelve million dollar endowment at
(05:49):
More House, So that's a way of lifting people up.
You know, she's she's trying to practice what she preaches
basically on her show. And she's also invested a lot
specifically into the Chicago community because Chicago is really where
she got her start in television. And speaking of which,
why don't we, why don't we offer a little bio
of Oprah Gail Winfrey born January Yeah, come with us,
(06:14):
Come with us to Mississippi. Yeah, yes, come to the
farm on Mississippi where Oprah was born to her unwed
teenage mother, and she was initially raised by her grandmother
on the farm, and then she was sent off to
Milwaukee to live with her mother. And she had a
rather promising childhood and elementary school. Uh, she was a
(06:38):
star pupil and one of the television episodes she actually
brought back her favorite teacher from elementary school who kind
of remember remember um. She also enjoyed church involvement school activity,
as she was frequently the one called on to you know,
say prayers or she handed out Graham crackers at school.
(07:00):
She liked she was a participator. She was a joiner, yes,
kind of a star personality from the get go. But
then at the age of nine, she was molested and
raped by her cousin who took care of her and
her siblings while her mother was at work. And then um,
in her adolescence she was also raped by an uncle
and a family friend, which really started, I mean just
(07:23):
this kind of history of personal tragedy in Oprah's life. Yeah.
She there was actually a quote from her where she
was reflecting on her childhood of abuse and she just said,
at one point I just had the thought of like, Okay,
well this is life like this is what it's like.
You know, how do I get away from this? But
one thing she did say also is that from the
very young, very tender age of four, she had this
(07:46):
idea and that there's a lot of talk about Oprah's
idea UM that she had for herself and that she
never let go of. And she said that it was
sparked when she was four years old on on her
grandmother's farm and her grandmother was, you know, hanging clothes
on the line or you know, doing chores and stuff,
and she was like, well, you're gonna have to learn
how to do this to one day, and Oprah was gone, no,
(08:09):
I'm not. I'm getting mad at here. I'm not doing
what you're doing. So from a very young age, she
was determined to be different, to achieve more and just
rise up sort of beyond where she was. Now. With
all of the childhood sexual trauma that was going on
um and her getting pregnant at the age of fourteen,
it seemed like that dream that Oprah had would certainly
(08:33):
not be fulfilled, that she was only following in the
footsteps of her mother Um. She because she had been
acting out. Actually, she was sent to live with her
father in Nashville, and her father is just horrified and
ashamed at his fourteen year old daughter is pregnant, but
she ends up losing the baby, and in a way,
this is really the huge turning point for oprah Or
(08:54):
She refocuses herself in school and I think she actually,
I don't know, she graduated early, but she was um
her coursework was ahead of her age group, and she
ends up earning a full scholarship to Tennessee State University.
And in nineteen seventy one, her real big break begins
when she wins two pageant titles in that year, Missfire
(09:16):
Missfire Prevention in Miss Black, Tennessee. And when she wins
Miss Black Tennessee, she's noticed by the local black radio
station w v o L that hires her as an
on air reporter, and this starts her career in media
right and the rest is history. Goodnight, Yeah no, yeah, yeah,
(09:38):
she really she really got going from a very young
age and eventually started She had a morning show. In
four she breaks into the talks show circuit in Chicago,
hosting AM Chicago in the same time slot as Phil Donahue.
And the interesting thing is, uh, Phil Donahue was one
(09:58):
of the pioneers in sort of the the girl talk
talk show format. Um, but he's going up again, or
Oprah's going up against him, And needless to say, we
all know what happens. Oprah gets her own show, AM
Chicago is expanded in ninetune and eighties six to an
hour long format, and eventually Phil Donahue goes down the tubes.
(10:22):
Right Well, oprad just has this way of relating to people.
She she you know, she walked out into the audience,
she was part of the audience. She was asking questions
of her guests, whether it was a celebrity and author
or a criminal or you know, just a single mother.
You know, she was asking questions that the audience themselves
would want to know. And so she had this way
(10:43):
of dealing with people, this this sort of empathy that
that made them more comfortable and able to share things.
And she's just I guess she took her past experiences
and we're able to was able to really use those
on the show. And like you said, Caroline, Um, when
she so open, initially very early in those talk show
(11:03):
days about her history of sexual abuse, it really dismantled
that fourth wall between the viewer and you know that
person on the television talking directly to them and relating
directly to them. And even now twenty five years later,
when she is, you know, one of the richest women
in the world, people are still able to relate to
(11:26):
her on a very just kind of friendly basis. You know,
like they would just run into her on the street
and like, hey, let's go get lunch over. Yeah, she's
someone he's seeing a grocery store and just be able
to have a chat with even though she's obviously running
in circles so beyond you know, the everyday viewers. Yeah,
(11:46):
but no, she well, part of her popularity is that
she understands the full range of the quote unquote female experience.
She knows that being a woman is not just about shopping,
but it's not just about being a other and having
a family. There's there's a whole range of things to
being a woman. And Caitlin Flanagan in The Atlantic I
(12:07):
thought had a good quote about it. Um She said
that Oprah can move so easily between episodes about on
the one hand, rape and domestic violence and on the
other shopping and decorating, demonstrates not a lack of focus,
but the fact that she understands the full equation of
the female experiences in ways that few others have. Yeah,
and it's not only just the female experience, but also
(12:29):
the black female experience on television so open for one
of the first times. And that's something that too, that
she's been um very consistent with of supporting the black
community and supporting other black women. And I think that's
one of the reasons too, why she's made such a
significant impact, because she's I don't know, I feel like
(12:50):
she's been able to in her own way, lover or
hate her being able to bridge certain communities. Yeah, Well,
she was inspired by so many different women on television,
so I think she took bits and pieces from everybody
and you know, and then incorporated them into her own experience.
You know. She said that she had so much admiration
for m Mary Tyler Moore, and she was so excited
(13:12):
to see Diana Ross on television and seeing Sitney Portier
getting out of a limousine at the Academy Award. So
she was just so inspired by all of these things
she saw on television and other women hosting talk shows
and everything that you know, she was able to combine
her knowledge, her life experience with a really stethy television
show exactly, with an incredible amount of influence. For instance,
(13:37):
with the Oprah book Club. We gotta talk about the
open book Club. Um. It was launched in and the
first book that she promotes was Jacqueline Mitchard's The Deep
End of the Ocean. And since then, the number of
books sold since being selected on her show million. Yeah,
(13:57):
that's crazy. Yeah, and only eleven of the books that
she's ever singled out have not made it onto the
USA Today bestseller list. Basically, if Oprah likes your book,
you are right piny press in your vacuum cleaner or whatever. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
She There's been a lot there's been a lot of
flak over this whole book club thing because on the
(14:21):
one hand, it's getting people to read, you know, like
she's encouraging people to read. She's bringing people in and
being like, yes, country as a whole, let's let's all
read this book together and talk about it. It's it
gives people a sense of community. Um. Even though it's
on television and she's so rich and so far, you know,
you're still part of something. And so she's encouraging all
(14:43):
these people to read. But on the other hand, there
are a lot of people who say, well, you're not
picking the right kinds of books, or your book club
is not cool enough for my book, which was the
case with Jonathan Franzen. Oh yeah, please please talk about
this Jonathan Franson con troversy because this one. I was
not aware of this the frans and episode right. He um,
(15:07):
he wrote the novel Corrections, which is fantastic. Recommend it.
I mean, it's good that you like it. Have you
ever watched Oprah? Because he doesn't think that people who
watch Oprah would get his book. He said that it
would be too hard for them, and basically saying that
it would be too hard for the stereotypical middle aged
(15:28):
housewife to read this book. Basically, I'm like, yeah, that's
nice and all, but don't put your corporate logo on
my book. Come on, I read that. That was my
pool side read a few summers ago, not that challenge,
and I did not need my unabridged dictionary beside need
to figure out thet your old English. Yeah, I'm magnifying glass.
(15:53):
And also, I mean she sent Tolstoy's Ana Karenina back
up to number one in what two thousand work. But
I mean I've never I mean I've never even read
Anna Current. Really, I mean, I admit it. Hey they're fine. Hey,
maybe you should join the Open Book Club. I know,
well I didn't pick up I picked up Love in
the Time of Cholera the grocery store. You know we've
(16:15):
in our in our romance novel podcast, we talked about
mass market paperbacks like sold it you know whatever big
box store, the grocery store or whatever, And yeah, there
are Oprah Book Club books at the grocery store. And
so I picked up Love in the topic and so
went along with my serious whatever. And some of it
is fantastic literature. I mean, I think the fact that
so many more people now know about authors such as
(16:35):
Tony Morrison and Alice Walker, who are two of Oprah's
most favorite, uh female authors, I would attribute that to Oprah.
But at the same time, though, we got to talk
about things like The Secret. Oh yeah, pseudo science. Yeah,
she's definitely gotten a lot of flak for her promotion
of pseudo science. So books like The Secret, which basically say, um,
(16:58):
so all these bad things that are happening to you,
you're just not putting enough positive energy out into the universe.
It's your fault. It's all about the the universal law
of attraction. And you know, I have met people who
firmly believe in the power of the Secret. I personally
have never read The Secret Um. But at the same time,
(17:21):
and you know, when you have that again, it's going
by to that thing of what do you do when
you have such incredible influence like Oprah has when you
make decisions to promote things like the Secret And bring
Jenny McCarthy on to talk about autism vaccine connection that
is yet to be verified by any kind of scientific study.
(17:43):
You can read more about that on how Stuffworks dot
com if you don't believe me, Um, And bring on
Susanne Summers who is going over her her controversial health
regimen to keep her young in the vein of Sam
Parks and recreation Rob blows character who will live forever. Um. Yeah.
(18:05):
And then you know, launching the careers of people like
Dr Phil who again probably has just as many if
not more critics as he does followers. Well, all this
all this stuff that we were just talking about about
pseudoscience and whatnot, and how you know, there's there's all
this talk of Oprah and the Oprah Show as a
religion and how you know, she was raised um in
(18:29):
the Baptist Church and so religion played a big part
in her life, and like we said, as as a child,
church was really important to her. But you know, through
her show she sort of promoted all of this this
just different veins, just different types of religion. And she's
talked about different ways to find spirituality, and that's kind
of the key is that she's definitely focused more on
(18:52):
spirituality and finding in her peace than she is talking
about like a particular religion. Catherine Lofton, she's an assistant
professor of American Studies and Religious Studies at Yale, has
has a lot to say about Oprah. Yeah. In fact,
she wrote a book called Oprah The Gospel of an
icon She argues that Oprah has become a religion quote
(19:14):
because she invites ritual processes towards her and her iconography.
Foster's produced ritual and that ritual critics day, is that
people run out and buy stuff, sort of the little
idea of consumption fulfilling that self need. But at the
same time, like you can argue with so many different ways.
(19:35):
Because yes, obviously with segments like favorite things, um, you
can say that that promotes just a false consumerism, and
yes there's a studoscience aspect of it, um, but it
does seem like the root of all of it. It's
not a bad message that she is promoting at the
end of the day, which is living your best life
(19:57):
and enriching yourself and also being been and sharing your
experiences with other people. UM. I don't know, it's kind
of it's kind of hard. It's like I keep doing
this motion with my hands of the weighing the scales
because there there's you know, stuffing you can say on
on either side. And for someone like me, like I
(20:18):
feel like I'm a very uh, basically like Switzerland when
it comes to Oprah. I never really grew up with Oprah. Um.
My mom never really followed Oprah. I had roommates, um
who were really obsessed with Oprah. But I just I
don't know, she was never really that much a part
of my life. So I recognize the impact that she
has and also have been taken aback at certain times
(20:41):
by you know, maybe pulling out a wagon of sixty
pounds of lard and choosing to promote certain things. It's
interesting how strong the reactions are to Oprah, Like people
out there are obsessed with her, like they might do
you know, like the Michael Jackson concert thing and totally
start trying to pass out, or you know, they just
(21:03):
totally slam her and say that she's fake, she's materialistic.
You know, she's promoting all of this junk science. But
you know, I'm the same way as as you. I
can you know, I see the good she does. She's
encouraging people to read, you know, she's encouraging people to
overcome bad circumstances in their life. Um so yeah, I
(21:24):
mean I don't I read OH Magazine, which we haven't
mentioned OH Magazine. Forbes named OH Magazine the most successful
startup in the entire industry. Ever. Yeah, when you already
have a humongous base of of fans and followers and
people who love you and who will do anything that
(21:46):
you say, I mean, yeah, yeah. I think the time
when I was most astonished by Oprah's sheer power was
during the presidential election and the controversial way that she
had in uh pulling for Barack Obama. I mean it
was It's incredible. Um, and the fact that I talked.
(22:09):
I mean, think about it, like down a talk show
host can go into the political arena and show up
at a rally with Obama and be like, this is
who I have picked. I mean, like what other what
other Larry King couldn't do that? I mean, like what
other talk show hosts could do that? Incredible that she
can do that and yet still form that in sociological terms,
(22:31):
that paras social relationship with a viewer that allows us
to still you know, people like your mom to still
relate to her as a friend. Yeah, women's talk, women's talk,
I mean lover or hater like you. You've got to
give it to Oprah that she has done something pretty incredible.
And now that she's you know, moved into this new
(22:53):
project of trying to build her own network, it will
be really interesting to see whether or not that influence
will only row or if it will wayne. But at
this point, I mean, she's wow, yea, and hey, you
know what, if you want to put yourself on the
cover of your own magazine every month, I say do it.
If your magazine do whatever you want, I'll read it.
I don't care. I know, people people use the fact
(23:16):
that Oprah's only had she's had a She shared the
cover with Michelle Obama and who else and with Ellen Degenerous.
I think it was in the same year. So she's like,
let's knock it all out of once. And people say,
you know, use it as some sign of this mego maniac. Yeah,
And of course there are you know, the gossipy anecdotes
(23:36):
about her being just an incredibly demanding and crazy boss
to work for. And I'm sure when you are running
one of the most successful production companies in modern media, yeah,
you probably are putting in sixteen hour days. And I'm
sure if you're one of the most powerful woman in
the world, you probably do get kind of crazy sometime. Hey,
I get cranky when I'm tired and I am on
(23:57):
you know, I'm managing nothing. And I think it's pretty
impressive that a woman who has ranked the number three
most powerful woman in the world behind Michelle Obama and
Irene Rosenfeld who's an executive at Craft, has kept her
love life private. I mean, we all everyone in the
world knows who Steadman Graham is, right, and Gail King
her best friend, and all the absurd speculations that go on, right,
(24:20):
But I mean, I think it's pretty impressive when you
have celebrity divorces and babies and marriages and whatever on
the news all the time, Like two seconds after they happen.
You know, nobody's chasing down Opra being like, oh God,
let me get a picture of you eating with Steadman.
Opra doesn't need it. She yeah, she just waves her
finger and it's like nope. Well imagine. I mean, if
you are that influential and that a list of a celebrity,
(24:44):
you gotta I'm sure you have to protect your privacy
fiercely or else. I mean, you're just never going to
have any time off the camera. What else can we see?
I mean, there's just so much. There's so much to Oprah.
She's multifaceted. She she impresses me so much the fact
that she, as a four year old, had this idea
(25:04):
that she was going to be different, and she proceeded
to take every opportunity that she could and she rose
to the stature that she has now. And if anything,
you gotta give it to her for bringing those taboo
subjects out of the closet and talking about them and
making us maybe more comfortable um talking about issues amongst
(25:24):
ourselves too taken down that fourth wall. So even for
non daytime fans like myself, I do. I gotta give
respect for respects do and Oprah? You got it? That's
all I got to say. Double And I'm sure that
listeners out there have so many diverse opinions on Oprah.
(25:47):
Do you love her? You hate her? Are you completely indifferent?
Has your mother cries because of her shows? Have you
ever gotten the favorite thing? Oh my God? Or a car?
About jeez? Let us know. Let us know your thoughts. Mom.
Stuff at how stuff works dot Com is the address,
and you can also hit us up on Facebook about that.
In the meantime, I got a little listener email here
(26:09):
about breakup songs, and this is from Brian in Canada
and he says, a few years ago, I was seeing
this lovely woman and we had a great romance until
the day she told me she was leaving. Crushed and angry.
I didn't know how to get over my funk until
one day my roommates were watching the television show The
(26:30):
o C and having never wanted to view anything from
Orange County, I still found myself drawn towards the show,
seeing how the cast would work through their problems, which
helped me understand that it does happen to everyone at
some point in time. That led me to getting off
the couch and I set out to have a new life,
(26:51):
which I am happy to say is being married to
my beautiful wife. So who knew the the O C
was his? His post break up therapy guy has a
big head in that show. I don't know what his
name is. I get distracted by that stuff. If your
head is too big, I just can't even talk to
you anyway. Okay, this is an email from Lisa. This
(27:12):
is also about our breakup podcast Breakup Song Podcast. She says,
I've been married for over twenty two years, so I
haven't needed to listen to breakup songs for a long time.
But I love your podcast and really enjoyed your recent episode.
I wanted to let you know the three songs that
I listened to when I went through my very first
horrendous breakup. It's funny to say this now, but my
(27:32):
mom was a tough lady and said, you got three
days to wallow and then you move on to find
a better man. She's from Texas, so on day one
I listened to Staying along with and cried to these
eyes by the guests who. On day two, I needed
to hear something a bit more upbeat to get me
out of the funk I was in, so I listened
to Burn Rubber Why You Want to Hurt Me by
(27:54):
the Gap Band. And on day three I needed something
empowering to say goodbye to the man who broke my
heart get me ready to go out again and take
a chance on love, so I picked a Girlfriend by Pebbles.
Thanks for the list. Yeah, We've had so many awesome
breakup songs coming in our inbox and on Facebook and
almost makes me want to date someone so I can
(28:14):
break up with them and listen to all of it. Well,
may or maybe just make a playlist or that's much
better idea. Anyway. Mom's seven hour Stuff Works dot Com
is our listener email address, or you can find us
on Facebook or hit us up on Twitter at mom
Stuff Podcast, And of course there's the blog during the
(28:34):
week stuff Mom Never Told You at how Stuff Works
dot com. Be sure to check out our new video podcast,
Stuff from the Future. Join how Stuff Work staff as
we explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow.
The House Stuff Works iPhone app has arrived. Download it
today on iTunes, Brought to you by the reinvented two
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