CHICAGO — Iconic talk show host Phil Donahue, who worked out of WGN for several years, has reportedly died at the age of 88.
Family told The TODAY Show he died at home surrounded by his family.
Donahue, born in Cleveland, started “The Phil Donahue Show” in 1967 in Dayton. In 1974, it moved to WGN Studios on Chicago’s Northwest Side.
“He’s basically the father of the modern talk show,” Steve Novak, a longtime WGN-TV director and producer, said.
The show was seen live in Chicago on Channel 9 each morning and on tape on 164 outlets across the country later in the day.
“We had the studio. We had the parking. We had everything available for him,” Novak said.
It premiered weekdays at 10 a.m., then and moved to 11 a.m., preceding “Bozo’s Circus.”
WGN-TV’s Studio 2 held 200 people for Donahue and there was a year-long waiting list for tickets.
Donahue’s guests included Gregory Peck, John Wayne, Muhammed Ali, Ray Charles, Dolly Parton, Ronald Reagan and many other household names.
He met his wife Marlo Thomas in WGN’s cafeteria.
At the show’s height, it was watched by more than 8 million people per day.
He began taping his show out of Rockefeller Center in New York in the mid-80s and it ended in 1996.
Donahue received the Presidential Medal of Freedom back in May.