TV talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael was the first woman to host an audience-participation talk show. The Sally Jessy Raphael Show first aired in 1983 in St. Louis. (Oprah Winfrey came along three years later from Chicago.) The 81-year-old Raphael is now talking about her last years on the show which she “hated” doing. She says she felt betrayed by some of the producers of her show “into doing that” — that being salacious stories similar to those on Jerry Springer.
Raphael, who’s still wearing her signature red eyeglass frames, says “I should have fought harder.” Her show “Sally” was canceled in 2002 due to low ratings. Oprah: Where Are They Now? airs Saturdays at 10pm on Oprah’s network, OWN.
