Phil Donahue, the talk show host who roamed his audience with a microphone and ruled daytime TV for decades, has died at age 88. The talk format Donahue established in 1967 and kept up for nearly 30 years eventually spawned scores of imitators including Oprah Winfrey, who would knock him off his perch as the king of daytime. His show gave many Americans their first exposure to issues like feminism, gay marriage and sexual harassment. Winfrey overtook him in the ratings in the mid-1980s but “Donahue” would go on for another 10 years. And Donahue praised Winfrey for raising “all boats” on daytime TV due to her success.
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Phil Donahue, who ruled daytime talk for years until Oprah overtook him, left a lasting imprint
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