3. Phil Donahue
Before there was Oprah, there was Phil Donahue. When The Phil Donahue Show first aired in 1967 it was a locally-watched daytime talk show, which aired in Dayton, Ohio. Three years later, it went national, syndicated in most cities. In 1974, the show moved to Chicago. In 1985 it moved to New York. Like the respected broadcasters who came before him, Donahue was unafraid of tough subjects. His show opened up the American public to cultural topics they might not otherwise have known, like when he introduced his audiences to hip-hop culture. For almost three decades, fans tuned into Donahue, until his eventual removal in the ’90s. Support waned after he’d expressed candor over the first Gulf War.