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Phillip John Donahue (born December 21 , 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio ) is the creator and star of '' The Phil Donahue Show '', also known as ''Donahue'', the first of the syndicated Talk Show s where the host walks through the audience to let audience members make comments and ask questions. The show enjoyed a 27-year run on national (U.S.) TV, plus two years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio before that. Although it ended in 1996, the show briefly reemerged as an MSNBC offering in 2002–2003. His shows have generally focused on issues that often divide Liberal s and Conservative s in the U.S., like women's reproductive rights, consumer protection (his most frequent guest was Ralph Nader , for whom he campaigned in 2000 ), Civil Rights , and war protests. PERSONAL HISTORY In 1953 Phil Donahue was a member of the first graduating class of in 1980. ''THE PHIL DONAHUE SHOW'' Donahue began his career in 1957 as a production assistant at TV and AM station KYW in Cleveland. He got a chance to become announcer one day when the regular announcer failed to show up. After a brief stint as a bank check sorter in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he became program director for WABJ radio, Adrian, Michigan, soon after graduating. He moved on to become a stringer for the '' CBS Evening News '' and then anchor of the morning newscast at WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio, where his interviews with Jimmy Hoffa and Billy Sol Estes were picked up nationally. The Dayton-based Donahue hosted ''Conversation Piece'', a phone-in talk show from 1963–1967. There he interviewed civil rights activists (including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X ) and war dissenters. He moved the format to television with ''The Phil Donahue Show'' on WLW-D (now WDTN ) in Dayton, Ohio in 1967. The show was a success and was nationally syndicated two years later by Avco . Donahue relocated the show's home base to WGN-TV in Chicago in 1974, and the show eventually took off, becoming both a national phenomenon and a pioneer. Later, he moved the show to WBBM-TV for its final years based in the Midwest. In 1984, Donahue featured Breakdancing for the first time on national TV, with the Hip-hop group UTFO {Link without Title} . In 1985, Donahue moved the program's operations to WNBC-TV , following a month-long buildup in which NBC late-night host David Letterman would use portions of his national program counting down the days to Donahue's move with a huge calendar in his studio. In 1992, Donahue celebrated the 25th anniversary of his local and national program with a special produced at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, in which he was lauded by his talk-show peers. Ironically, in many corners he was seen as having been bypassed both by Oprah Winfrey , whose own hugely successful national show was based in Donahue's former Chicago home base; and Sally Jessy Raphael , whose own talk show was distributed by Donahue's syndicator Multimedia. Donahue's show finally ended in 1996, culminating what remains the longest continuous run (27 years) of any midday national talk show in US history, not counting the weekday and Sunday breakfast programs and specialized shows such as the religious-oriented '' The 700 Club ''. ''DONAHUE'' ON MSNBC In 2002, Phil Donahue returned to television to host a show called ''. He mentioned the internal memo later in an interview on will-am, a public radio station. PHIL DONAHUE, PRANK VICTIM One of the most talked-about incidents in the Donahue show's history came on January 21 , 1985 , soon after the show's base of production moved to WNBC-TV . Seven members of the audience appeared to faint during the broadcast, which was seen live in New York. Donahue, fearing the fainting was caused by both anxiety at being on TV and an overheated studio, eventually cleared the studio of audience members and then resumed the show. It turned out the "fainting" spell was cooked up by media hoaxer Alan Abel , in what Abel said was a protest against poor-quality TV. EXTERNAL LINKS
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