Phillip John Donahue born December 21 1935 is an American media personality writer film producer and the creator and host of The Phil Donahue Show The television program later known simply as Donahue was the first talk show format that included audience participation The show had a 29year run on national television in America that began in Dayton Ohio in 1967 and ended in New York City in 1996 His shows have often focused on issues that divide liberals and conservatives in the United States such as abortion consumer protection civil rights and war issues His most frequent guest was Ralph Nader for whom Donahue campaigned in 2000 Donahue also briefly hosted a talk show on MSNBC from July 2002 to March 2003 Donahue is one of the most influential talk show hosts and has been called the king of daytime talk Oprah Winfrey has stated If it werent for Phil Donahue there would never have been an Oprah Show In 1996 Donahue was ranked 42 on TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time Description above from the Wikipedia article Phil Donahue licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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