Oprah Winfrey: Taken off the evening news, given a talk show instead
Hired to co-anchor the evening news in Baltimore at 22, she was taken off it within eight months. The station moved her to a morning talk show, which turned out to be her real work.
Radio at 17
Oprah Winfrey was born in 1954 in rural Mississippi and grew up with very little money. While still at school she was hired to read news on a local radio station in Nashville, and she went on to television news in Nashville while at university.
Removed from the anchor chair
In 1976 WJZ-TV in Baltimore hired her to co-anchor its 6 pm news. It did not work: she has said she got too involved in the stories she was reading. On 1 April 1977, after about seven and a half months, she was taken off the programme and given lower profile work.
The turn
In 1978 the station paired her with Richard Sher on a local talk show, People Are Talking. Talking with guests suited her far better than reading news, and she stayed for six years.
What came of it
In 1984 she moved to Chicago to host a morning programme, and in 1986 it went national as The Oprah Winfrey Show, running for 25 years.
Being moved sideways can show you where you fit. A role that does not suit you is information, not a verdict on you.
The myth: She is often said to have been fired from the news job. She was taken off the programme but kept on by the station, which later gave her the talk show.
Where the facts come from: The Baltimore Sun, 'Oprah: Built in Baltimore'; Biography, Encyclopaedia Britannica.
