Oprah Winfrey's New Radio Station

October 2, 2006 - Oprah Winfrey's new radio station, Oprah & Friends, launched officially took to the airwaves on September 25th. The station can be found on XM Satellite radio on channel 156. Oprah's radio station is certain to be a huge success considering her enormous following from both her television program and her philanthropic exploits.

On the day of the show's launch, Oprah appeared on Larry King Live to discuss what her station would be about and how she hoped the radio programming would affect her following. Oprah claims that her show will touch on a lot of different topics and will offer great advice and mediation for people in search of answers. Oprah hopes that the radio channel will serve as a center point for counsel and that her well-accomplished radio hosts will prove to be as helpful to listeners as they have been to Oprah, personally.

Oprah's list of radio hosts not only consists of consummate professionals who are talented to at their crafts, but they are people persons whom Oprah trust with some of the biggest decisions she makes in her life.

Gayle King is Oprah's best friend of over two decades and also serves as the Editor-at-Large for O, The Oprah Magazine. Her radio show will include dialogues from her and Oprah as well as insightful conversations between the long-time friends.

Bob Greene is the personal trainer for Oprah and is originator of Oprah's significant weight loss back in the 90's. He is trainer for the stars, but he is well grounded and takes a strong-headed approach with his often babied celebrities. When he originally started training Oprah, Oprah had been arriving at her sessions with Bob behind schedule, and Bob basically told Oprah to stop wasting his time and to get on board or get off. Needless to say, Oprah never arrived late to a session with Bob again. His radio program will look to make non-exercisers believe they can be fit, the same way he did with Oprah.

Dr. Mehmet Oz is a heart surgeon and a professor at Columbia Medical School. He has appeared on several episodes of Oprah's television show, both conjuring up general medical advice and alerting people to some unfamiliar health tips. His radio show will look to keep people from leading down the path to heart disease.

Jean Chatzky is a financial advisor who appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show's Debt Diet series. She helped millions of viewers gain some basic financial advice that could turn consumers across the nation into financially managed individuals. Her show will focus on offering insight into paying bills, eliminating debt, negotiating for a raise and ridding of harmful stereotypes about saving and pursuing money.

Dr. Robin Smith is a licensed psychologist and a renowned author. Her advice that has often been displayed on Oprah's show will now be available on Oprah's radio station. Her show will look to take a closer look at the leading psychological problems facing America today, and how to go about avoiding and handling them.

Nate Berkus is an extremely talented interior designer who likes to take the fear out of designing one's home and house. He has appeared on Oprah's show and has helped Oprah and friend, Gayle, design aspects of their homes. Nate hopes that his radio show will allow people to realize that designing your house is more about making yourself feel comfortable than being fashionably correct.

Dr. Maya Angelou, as you all know, is renowned poet, author and civil rights activist. She is probably the 2nd most influential African-American woman, right after Oprah Winfrey herself. Her show will be a lighthearted broadcast offering life lessons learned by the doctor, and it will be a good source for having your questions and problems answered.

And of course there is Oprah Winfrey herself who will appear on the channel for 30 minutes a week, 39 weeks a year. While that is a considerably short amount of time, both XM Radio and viewers hope that Oprah's presence will be influential and will create a buzz similar to that of her book club and philanthropic ventures. On her show, Oprah will let some of her opinions let loose and will offer give listeners some insight into some of her most telling personal conversations.

-Uzo Ometu