Phil Donahue, Daytime Talk-Show Trailblazer, Dies At 88

Phil Donahue, who pioneered the daytime issue-themed talk show format, died Sunday night following a long illness. He was 88.

Donahue’s family announced the death in a statement shared with NBC’s Today show, where he was once a regular contributor. The show said he died at home but did not give a specific cause.

Born December 21, 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio, Phil Donahue began his career in 1957 as a production assistant at the former KYW radio and television station in Cleveland. After a brief stint as a bank check sorter in Albuqueque, New Mexico, Donahue became program director for WABJ radio in Adrian, Michigan following graduation. Next was a position as a stringer for the CBS Evening News and, later, an anchor spot for the local morning newscast at WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio.

While in Dayton, Donahue also hosted Conversation Piece, an afternoon phone-in talk show from 1963 to 1967 on WHIO radio. His guests included Johnny Carson and Malcolm X.

On November 6, 1967, Donahue left WHIO, moving his talker, now The Phil Donahue Show to WLWD (now WDTN) in Dayton. His first episode featured one guest, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, who was focused on ending mandatory Bible reading in schools. Other installments that first week included a video of a woman giving birth and a discussion on the appropriateness of dolls showing male anatomy. The focus was on issue-themed topical conversation and no topic was taboo.

In January 1970, The Phil Donahue Show was upgraded to national syndication, moving from Dayton to Chicago in 1974. Ten years later, the show moved to New York City, where it was shot at a studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

After a 29-year run – 26 years in syndication and nearly 7,000 one-hour daily shows -the final original episode of Donahue aired on September 13, 1996. Over the years, he interviewed actors, politicians, activists, musicians, and athletes, among others. And his notable guest roster included Elton John, Sammy Davis Jr., Dolly Parton, Robin Williams, Muhammad Ali, Gloria Steinem, Gregory Peck, Roseanne Barr, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg.

In 1977, Donahue met Marlo Thomas when she appeared on his program to promote Free to Be You and Me, the children’s book and album about sexism she authored. They were married in 1980.

In 1987, Donahue and Soviet journalist Vladimir Posner co-hosted a series of televised discussions among everyday citizens of the United States and the Soviet Union. It was the first event of its kind in broadcasting history.

Then, from 1991 to 1994 Donahue and Posner co-hosted Posner/Donahue, a weekly, issues-oriented roundtable program, which aired both on cable news network CNBC and in syndication.

Among his many honors, Phil Donahue won 20 Emmy Awards during his broadcasting career, 10 for Outstanding Talk Show Host, and 10 for The Phil Donahue Show. He received the Peabody Award in 1980, and was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 1993. Just this year he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden.

“He helped change hearts and minds through honest and open dialogue,” said President Biden. “And over the course of a defining career in television and through thousands of daily conversations, Phil Donahue steered the nation’s discourse and spoke to our better angels.”

Donahue’s family requested that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship Fund in lieu of flowers. Marlo Thomas and his father-in-law, Danny Thomas, have long been associated with the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.