Before Oprah, there was Phil. And it was on this day in 1967 that Phil Donahue debuted his eponymous talk show in Dayton, Ohio. A little over three years later, The Phil Donahue Show — later simply Donahue — was syndicated nationwide.

Donahue was known for tackling controversial, hot-button topics (His very first guest was atheist activist Madalyn Murray O'Hair.) and helped paved the way for the tabloid-style shows hosted by Maury Povich, Sally Jessy Raphael and Jerry Springer.

The Phil Donahue Show ran for a total of 29 years, and remains the longest countinuously-running syndicated talk show.

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2 Comments

mark isenberg

Few knew that little known Multimedia Entertainment in Greenville,SC was the funding source for the Donahue Empire. It is long out of business$$$$$$.

Nov 6, 2019 | Reply

Do you know who has an archive of Donahue episodes? The episode I'm looking for was aired on Feb 14th, 1992 and was titled: Gays Beware-The Town Wants You Out.

Jul 21, 2019 | Reply

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