The Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, is an American television talk show hosted by Phil Donahue that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast on WLWD in Dayton, Ohio, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1970 and 1996. History Dayton start In 1967, Phil Donahue left his positions as news reporter and interviewer at WHIO radio and television in Dayton to go into the stations' sales department. He found he did not like it and took an on-air news position at another Dayton TV station, WLWD (now WDTN). The station’s weekday variety, music and chat program, The Johnny Gilbert Show, ended suddenly, when Gilbert left on short notice for a hosting job in New York City. WLWD named Donahue to replace Gilbert, keeping the live format and studio audience. But Donahue decided to take the show in a new direction. He focused on one guest or topic for the entire hour and invited the audience to ask questions. On November 6, 1967, Donahue hosted his first guest, atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair. Though he would later call her message of atheism "very important", he also stated she was rather unpleasant and that, off-camera, she mocked him for being Roman Catholic.On May 19, 1973, Donahue's guest was Dr. Cody Sweet who brought the subject of body language to the US nationally syndicate television audience for the first time. National syndication Initially, the program was shown only on four stations owned by the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation (which would later take the name of its parent Avco Company): Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Indianapolis. With the show's ratings success in those cities, on September 14, 1970, The Donahue Show entered nationwide syndication. When the Avco Company divested their broadcasting properties in 1976, Multimedia Inc. assumed production and syndication of the program, which was now known as simply Donahue. Donahue relocated the show's home base to Chicago in 1974, first using the studios of independent station WGN-TV on the city's north side. Multimedia ended its relationship with WGN in 1982, a move designed to protect syndication exclusivity in markets outside Chicago (WGN was expanding nationally via cable television at the time), and Donahue moved downtown to CBS-owned WBBM-TV. In 1984, Donahue introduced many viewers to hip-hop culture, as a program featured breakdancing for the first time on national television, accompanied by a performance from