What Phil Donahue meant to television

If you press that orange button above, you’ll be listening to a talk show.  

Now, you may not think of public radio and daytime TV as related. But at the heart of what we here on 1A do is… you.  

And for one legendary TV host, that was a key ingredient to success. The prime years of Phil Donahue’s career spanned nearly three decades, from 1970 to 1996. 

Moving from radio to TV in 1967 at a local Ohio station, Donahue recorded over 6,000 episodes of “The Phil Donahue Show” (later known simply as “Donahue”).  

He died Sunday at the age of 88. We talk about his legacy.