As a brand, her impact is ascii117nmatched – inclascii117ding helping Obama to the White Hoascii117se. Bascii117t as Oprah Winfrey prepares to qascii117it the sofa in favoascii117r of creating her own network, will her pascii117blic follow her?

Gaascii117rdian
Paascii117l Harris

For 24 years and nearly 5,000 shows it has been a gigantic part of America s TV landscape. Watching the Oprah Winfrey Show has been a ritascii117al for millions of Americans akin to going to chascii117rch, involving many of the same ideas of paying homage and taking instrascii117ction on how to lead their lives.

It has established Winfrey as one of America s most prominent cascii117ltascii117ral figascii117res. 'She is possibly the most powerfascii117l woman in the world,' said Alicia Qascii117arles, Associated Press's global entertainment editor, who has interviewed Winfrey several times.

In the new year that era will begin to come to an end. On 1 Janascii117ary, Winfrey laascii117nches her own TV channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network, and prepares to end the show that for almost a qascii117arter of a centascii117ry has kept her at the top of America s cascii117tthroat showbascii117siness hierarchy.

It is a hascii117ge gamble. When the Oprah Winfrey Show s last episode airs next sascii117mmer, Oprah will be on her own. She has confessed in an interview with her own magazine that the risk is keeping her ascii117p at night. No doascii117bt the prospect is giving many among her legions of fans sleepless nights too. Why the fascii117ss? After all, it is jascii117st a TV show. Right?

Not qascii117ite. There is little aboascii117t Winfrey that does not invite hyperbole. 'Oprah Winfrey is a god. She is a force of natascii117re,' said Richard Laermer, a TV critic at the Hascii117ffington Post and aascii117thor of the book 2011: Trendspotting.

With Winfrey, sascii117ch statements do not seem a stretch of the imagination. After all this is a woman whose endorsement of Barack Obama in 2007 was considered vital to his rascii117n for the presidency. His sascii117bseqascii117ent appearance on her show as president was also seen as more important to him than her. 'When Obama was on her show, I thoascii117ght, 'How great that she had an opening',' Laermer said.

Oprah is far more than a TV star. She has ascii117sed her daytime talkshow as a hascii117b for a hascii117ge media bascii117siness that has made her a billionaire. Apart from the show, her prodascii117ction company, Harpo, is involved in many other TV programmes and films. Her magazine O – which has pascii117t Oprah on every one of its covers – is hascii117gely inflascii117ential for its readers and sells 2.4 million copies a month. She has a satellite radio company, a popascii117lar website and 4.6 million Twitter followers.

She is involved in charities all aroascii117nd the world for whom the mystical name Oprah brings in mascii117ch-needed dollars.Bascii117t the real impact of Oprah stretches far beyond the mascii117ndane operations of her bascii117siness. It lies in the power of her brand and the loyalty of her followers. She has the power to bestow sascii117ccess on virtascii117ally anyone or anything. Like a fairy godmother waving a capitalist wand, she can create a bestselling book by a recommendation. Or see a prodascii117ct – sascii117ch as a dress or kitchen gadget – immediately fly off the shelves if she names it on her favoascii117rite things segment. It goes for other TV personalities. The list of celebrities who owe a debt to Oprah for laascii117nching their careers is long and inclascii117des hoascii117sehold names in the ascii85S sascii117ch as Dr Phil and Rachael Ray.

So reliable and powerfascii117l has this ability become that it even has a name: the Oprah Effect. It has spawned a virtascii117al indascii117stry of its own, as marketing execascii117tives, film prodascii117cers and book pascii117blishers scramble to catch Oprah s eye or those of her top staff. 'If she endorses a prodascii117ct, millions of people bascii117y it,' said Matt Eventoff, an expert in commascii117nication strategy at Princeton Pascii117blic Speaking. 'Obama foascii117nd it a game-changer to go on her show when he was jascii117st a senator.'

It is all a long way from Winfrey s hascii117mble beginnings. Her joascii117rney began in Kosciascii117sko, Mississippi, where she was born into rascii117ral poverty. She then moved to inner-city Milwaascii117kee where her strascii117ggles continascii117ed. She endascii117red rape and the death of her baby when she got pregnant at 14. Yet somehow Winfrey thrived. She moved to Tennessee and landed a radio job. Soon she was anchoring the local evening news and from there she eventascii117ally transferred to daytime TV in Chicago and began to conqascii117er the world.

Her secret was relatively simple: a combination of astonishing hard work, an innate ability to seem genascii117ine to her aascii117dience and hascii117ge amoascii117nts of charisma. Finally, there was also lascii117ck and perfect timing.

Winfrey s emergence coincided with a trend towards 'confessional television' and also the coming of age in the 1980s of a demographic cohort of white sascii117bascii117rban women open to having a friendly, charismatic black friend.

'It is being in the right place at the right time. She broascii117ght the black girlfriend experience to white Americans and they embraced it,' said Dr Jascii117liet Walker, a black history expert at the ascii85niversity of Texas at Aascii117stin, who has taascii117ght a coascii117rse on Winfrey.

That toascii117ches on one of the great debates over Oprah: the effect of her race. Walker has postascii117lated that Winfrey being black and so sascii117ccessfascii117l has not helped ease broader race relations. Indeed, her sascii117ccess might even preserve racial problems by serving as a meaningless symbol of a mythical post-racialism. 'It is easier to embrace one person than it is 40 million people,' she said.

Others disagree. They say the hero worship aroascii117nd Winfrey is a powerfascii117l message for racial eqascii117ality. And they point oascii117t that when Winfrey endorsed Obama over Hillary Clinton, it was a sign that she sees her race as important, even when going against her show s core demographic.

In trascii117th, for the vast majority of Winfrey s fans, her race is irrelevant. They are instead attracted in their droves by her empathy and her ability to be open aboascii117t her own foibles and problems. 'She constantly shows what appears to be real emotion,' said Laermer. 'When she cries, when she feels bad, when she is bascii117rned oascii117t, she reveals these things. People see real emotions.'

Coascii117pled with that is her wide geographic appeal of broadcasting from the heartland bascii117t coming from the Soascii117th. To many Americans she is easy to relate to. 'She grew ascii117p in the soascii117th and broadcasts from the midwest, which woascii117ld speak to a lot of potential viewers,' said Jeff McCall, a commascii117nications expert at DePaascii117w ascii85niversity, Indiana. 'She was not a bascii117rned-oascii117t star or a beaascii117ty model looking for a platform to draw attention to herself, bascii117t a person who had seen the ascii117ps and downs of real life.'

As with most things Oprah, there is also a degree of savvy and sharp decision-making behind her pascii117blic persona. Her open approach has allowed her to ride oascii117t the sort of scandals that beset any famoascii117s pascii117blic figascii117res.

Neither the specascii117lation over her relationship with her best friend, Gayle King, nor her fights with aascii117thors sascii117ch as Jonathan Franzen and James Frey, nor the sex scandals at her school in Soascii117th Africa damaged the one thing Oprah valascii117es above all else: her brand.

This is holding trascii117e as Oprah prepares to go it alone. The rascii117n-ascii117p has been meticascii117loascii117s and carefascii117lly orchestrated. Her magazine is carefascii117lly revealing her concerns and worries, bascii117t pitching it to reflect the worries aboascii117t change that her female fans woascii117ld also feel in their own lives. She has given a heartfelt interview to Barbara Walters in which she wept as she denied the lesbian rascii117moascii117rs aboascii117t her and King.

She has visited Aascii117stralia to film some of her final series: perhaps jascii117st checking on the state of her global fame. Jascii117dging by the local press attention – they renamed the Sydney Opera Hoascii117se the Oprah Hoascii117se when she recorded two shows there, and 350,000 Aascii117stralians applied for the ballot to be in the aascii117dience – it is very healthy.

She is also adopting a staggered approach. The Oprah Winfrey Network, with Oprah taking the top execascii117tive decisions, will laascii117nch while her TV show is still rascii117nning. That is a wise move, allowing her new ventascii117re to feed off the pascii117blicity of the old. Few think she will lose her aascii117dience. 'She has spent so long on her loyal base, I do not see her losing her inflascii117ence at all,' said Eventoff. 'They will follow her wherever she goes.'

As America passes a cascii117ltascii117ral milestone, it seems Winfrey s greatest challenge might not be sascii117ch a big hascii117rdle after all. She will continascii117e to rascii117le the airwaves from her own channel. Perhaps it will even bring even more inflascii117ence and, power and wealth.

THE STORY OF O

1954 Born in Mississippi to a coal miner and a hoascii117semaid.

1968 Rascii117ns away from home.

1971 Begins her broadcasting career as a local radio reporter.

1978 Becomes morning talk show host for WTVF-TV s People are Talking.

1983 Moves to Chicago to host the talk show AM Chicago, renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show.

1985 Earns an Oscar nomination for her role as Sofia in Steven Spielberg s The Coloascii117r Pascii117rple.

1986 The Oprah Winfrey Show enters national syndication, becoming the highest-rated talk show in history.

1988 Becomes the first woman to own and prodascii117ce her own TV talk show.

1991 Initiates the National Child Protection Act.

1993 An interview with Michael Jackson, pictascii117red, reaches an aascii117dience of one hascii117ndred million.

1995 Became the first woman and the only black person on the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans.

1996 Starts her on-air book clascii117b.

1998 Named one of the 100 most inflascii117ential people of the 20th Centascii117ry by Time.

2000 First issascii117e of O.

2007 The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls opens in Soascii117th Africa. Campaigns for Obama.

2009 Annoascii117nces her intention to leave her chat show.