It’s hard to imagine a time when Oprah Winfrey wasn’t one of the biggest media moguls around, but yes, even she had to start somewhere. Before she had her own television network or the highest-rated nationally syndicated day-time talk show, the Mississippi native was a TV reporter working her way up the ranks.
Winfrey began her career in Nashville as the first black female anchor on the local news and then moved on to anchor the evening news in Baltimore. While she was in Maryland, her broadcast career shifted from news to hosting a talk show. But in 1983, when she saw an opening on a morning show in Chicago, she put together an audition tape and sent it along.
Watching the tape, fans might first notice the distinct 1980s hairstyle and clothing, but they’ll also immediately recognize the then-29-year-old’s friendly demeanor. The 30-second clip shows Winfrey explaining the origin of her name in her usual conversational tone.
Of course, shortly after she landed the job in Chicago, she turned the show—then called AM Chicago—from the lowest-rated to the highest-rated talk show in town. The show was later renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show and would continue as a nationally syndicated talk show for 25 years until 2011, earning 47 Daytime Emmy Awards in the process.