Phil Donahue, Pioneering Daytime TV Talk Show Host, Dead at 88

Phil Donahue, the pioneering daytime TV talk show host, who welcomed audience participation and was willing to engage in any topic — from economic theory to adult diaper babies — has died, The New York Times reports. He was 88.

Donahue died on Sunday, Aug. 18, at his home in New York City. A representative for the family, Susan Arons, confirmed his death. An exact cause was not given, though the family did say he died after a long illness. 

The Phil Donahue Show enjoyed a remarkable 29-year run between 1967 and 1996, jumping quickly from a local production in Dayton, Ohio to a nationally syndicated smash. Donahue won 20 daytime Emmys during its run and, at its peak, was averaging about eight million viewers an episode. Donahue, himself, also earned his own recurring interview segment on Today, between 1979 to 1988.

Oprah Winfrey paid tribute to her predecessor on Instagram, writing, “There wouldn’t have been an Oprah Show without Phil Donahue being the first to prove that daytime talk and women watching should be taken seriously. He was a pioneer. I’m glad I got to thank him for it. Rest in peace Phil.”

Before Donahue, many TV interview and talk shows were tightly structured and contained affairs. But early into his run, Donahue decided to welcome the crowd into his show after chatting with audience members during commercial breaks and realizing they had astute questions of their own. Eventually, Donahue opened up the phone lines, so viewers at home could call in with questions, too.

Donahue complemented this approach with a probing interview style of his own that could be as deft as it was blunt. He once asked a child with cancer if he was afraid to die, and in a different episode, got a woman to tell her husband on air that she was planning to divorce him. Donahue often cajoled his subjects with the simple line, “We’re here to learn.”

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Donahue grew up in a strict Roman Catholic family, but ultimately chafed at the church and left it. (Religion was a frequent topic on his show from the get-go; his first guest was the prominent, but unpopular atheist, Madalyn Murray O’Hair.) Though he studied business in college, Donahue found himself drawn to media and journalism: He worked at radio stations in Ohio, New Mexico, and Michigan and later served as a reporter for the CBS Evening News. 

He eventually secured several prominent jobs at Dayton’s CBS affiliate, WHIO, including morning news anchor and host of an afternoon radio talk show. In 1967, he moved to a rival station, WLWD, and launched The Phil Donahue Show; at first the program only aired on stations owned by WLWD’s parent company, but by 1970 it was syndicated nationwide. From there, Donahue’s production moved from Chicago in 1974, then to New York City, in 1984. 

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