With a career that has included 20 Emmy Awards and a show with a 29-year run, it’s safe to say that Phil Donahue is a media icon. From groundbreaking interviews to norm-busting programming, Donahue will always be known as the father of the audience-participation talk show. A precursor to shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show, Donahue proved audiences loved to watch interactive programming. And they continued to watch for nearly three decades.
I recently had the honor of interviewing the legendary journalist, talk show host, and producer Phil Donahue for my iTunes podcast Whine At 9. Donahue, who will be giving the kick-off keynote speech at the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop in Dayton, Ohio this month, shared his early career memories of Dayton and his thoughts on television, comedy, and politics today.
Listen to Phil Donahue share his memories of living across the street from humorist Erma Bombeck.
Phil Donahue’s television career began long before he was taping a hit show in Chicago. During the early ’60s, Donahue and his young family settled in Centerville, Ohio (part of the metropolitan area of Dayton). They lived in a neighborhood of “cookie-cutter homes.” Their home also happened to be across the street from humorist Erma Bombeck. Neither Bombeck nor Donahue were in the national spotlight at the time. “I was with WHIO TV News Department. So I was the guy with the news scout, as we called it, chasing fires, plane crashes, bank robbers. I had a camera man. And I’d get to the fire and I’d jump out and run there with my microphone and the camera man chasing me. I’d say to the (fire) chief ‘What did it look like when you got here, Chief?’ And he would say, ‘It looked like a fire, dummy. What do you think?’” chuckles Donahue.
Says Donahue, “The first time Erma and I met professionally, she came across the street to interview me for the Kettering Oakwood Times.” When Bombeck hit the Dayton paper, Donahue knew something major had occurred. Says the journalist, “I was most impressed with the fact that she got on the op-ed page of the Dayton Journal Herald. No woman had succeeded in doing that. It sounds pretty basic and ho-hum now, but it wasn’t then.”
Looking back at the careers of Donahue and Bombeck, it appears they were on similar trajectories. Neither Donahue or the family of the late Bombeck seem to think that this raised the bar for other parents in the neighborhood to become media favorites, but it had to have been interesting to watch the rising stars of Centerville, Ohio.
Recalls Donahue, “The arc of our careers pretty much coincided, although she was probably ahead of me.” When Bombeck’s books hit the bestseller list in the ’70s, her popularity was sealed. “So she quickly became a phenom. Everybody wanted her. She wound up on refrigerator doors all over the world, really.”
Donahue went on to score his own phenomenal success. His show Donahue was named by TV Guide as one of the greatest television shows of all time, and he was inducted into the Academy of Television’s Hall of Fame. He’s headlined network and public television specials and continues to be a popular opinion writer.
More recently, Phil Donahue’s energy has been focused on the critically acclaimed documentary Body of War, which he co-produced and co-directed. Body of War has received numerous honors, including the Best Documentary Award from the National Board of Review and a People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival. The true story of a paralyzed Iraq War veteran, Body of War has been an important and deeply moving project for Donahue.
A father and grandfather, Phil Donahue lives in New York with his wife, award-winning actress, author, and activist Marlo Thomas. When it comes to television, comedy, and politics, times have changed since Donahue was running around Dayton, Ohio chasing bank robbers and fires. “We are rougher around the edges now than ever before,” he notes. But he’s not issuing any reprimands. “I’ve had a lot of people try to censor me over the years. And I just think, let the door remain open. Let’s see what happens. It’s a lot better open with fresh air coming in.”
I think Phil Donahue would be a great neighbor.
Listen to Nancy’s interview with Phil Donahue here, on Stitcher Radio, or iTunes.
Nancy Berk, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, author, comic and entertainment analyst. The host of the showbiz podcast Whine At 9, Nancy digs a little deeper as she chats with fascinating celebrities and industry insiders. Her book College Bound and Gagged: How to Help Your Kid Get into a Great College Without Losing Your Savings, Your Relationship, or Your Mind can be seen in the feature film Admission starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd.