OPRAH WINFREY:
THE QUEEN OF ALL MEDIA

MICHELE J MARTIN

Is there anyone who doesn't know who Oprah Winfrey is? At this point, she no longer needs to use her surname; she is one of the founding members of the single name icon club: Bowie, Prince, Madonna, Gaga, and Oprah.

Oprah has come a long way from her beginnings; born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single mother and raised in Milwaukee's inner city. She overcame severe trauma and tragedy before the age of 15. Despite the otherwise overwhelming obstacles, she seized an opportunity during high school that would alter her course and forever change her life.

"The great courageous act that we must all do, is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams.”

After being sent to live with her father in Tennessee, Oprah was offered a part-time position reading the news after school for local Nashville radio station WVOL. While studying communications at Tennessee State University, she earned the news co-anchor chair at Nashville's WLAC-TV, becoming both the youngest news anchor and the first Black news anchor at the station. In 1978 she co-hosted People are Talking, before relocating to Chicago in 1984 to take over AM Chicago.

Winfrey's contagious enthusiasm and genuine curiosity, and big heart made her an immediate success with the viewing public of AM Chicago. So much so that they quickly renamed the show The Oprah Winfrey Show. Launching Harpo Productions that year, she was the host and namesake of The Oprah Winfrey Show as well as the creative director and executive producer. Quickly, she took the show to another milestone — international syndication.

The Oprah Winfrey Show goes down in history as one of the longest-running talk shows with original host and one of the most celebrated, winning awards and accolades year after year. At its peak, it aired in over 140 countries and has remained one of the highest-ranking talk shows of all time. The Oprah Winfrey Show ran for 25 years, from 1986 until Oprah decided to end its run in 2011.

To understand Oprah's cultural impact is to look at the entirety of her career. As an author, producer, talk show host, media mogul, philanthropist, and as both a screen and voice actress —she's spent her life talking to us and using the power of her voice and her platform to elevate ours.

For a list of her extensive career nominations and awards wins — IMDB.

Interested in what a professional voice coach thinks of her voice? British vocal coach Darren McStay breaks down the magic behind of Oprah Winfrey's voice in this video:

Oprah's vocal style is that of a storyteller — deep and rich, it is engaging and inspiring. She also has the ability to access a dynamic range of expressivity. It is so pleasing to the ear, but it is also evocative and motivating. It makes us want Oprah to be our life coach!

Voice styles such as Oprah's would be amazing in motivational and inspirational applications using digital voice. However, voices such as hers aren't currently represented in the digital voices dominating the markets. But, imagine the possibilities, if the world of digital voice matched the world of human voice. If it was as dynamic and expressive? More representative? Guess what, now it can be — learn more about AI-Voice.

type-windmill

Windmill voices are defined as Low, Deep, Breathy, and Nasal. Learn more about the unique characteristics that make up our voices and voice types here: VOCALiD Voice Types.

This is the ninth in our Iconic Black Voices series. Make sure to come back to our blog every day this month as we highlight more iconic Black voices in celebration of Black History Month.

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