| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010 6:37 am |
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Nation & World 
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Losing Oprah Winfrey could be a big blow for Windy City CHICAGO — Step outside Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios and into the near west side neighborhood that’s been home to her television talk show for two decades, and it’s easy to get a sense of what she’s meant to Chicago.“I used to live across the street from Harpo and when I moved there it was me and cross-dressing crack addicts and Harpo. And now it’s strollers and little white dogs all over,” said Paul O’Connor, whose job has been to sell the city to businesses looking to relocate and those wondering why they should stay. Along with the upscale condominiums and pricey restaurants that replaced the rundown apartments, abandoned warehouses and vacant storefronts, it’s a sentiment that helps explain just how nervous people in Chicago are about Winfrey’s announcement that next season, the 25th, will be the last for “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” “Chicago’s going to find out that she’s a real engine to hotel rooms, flowers, limo drivers, you name it,” said Joel Nickson, who owns Wishbone restaurant just down the street. “Even when she’s not doing the show, we see people all the time taking cabs out here, taking pictures in front of the place.” Media analysts will discuss the millions of viewers worldwide who have eagerly watched Winfrey’s show, tuned in others she told them to watch and read books she told them to read. The story in Chicago will be what she’s meant to Chicago. It’s a story that starts in the neighborhood that people visited just to see her show — then they’d go off to explore the rest of the city. It’s from the neighborhood that Winfrey bragged about Chicago, reminding all those who knew she could take her show just about anywhere that she wanted to be right here. “Isn’t this the most fabulous city in the world?” Winfrey yelled to more than 20,000 fans who crowded Chicago’s Magnificent Mile in September for the taping of this season’s premiere. Without Winfrey, some wonder. “What’s this town going to come to?” asked Ann Coddington, 41, of Richmond, Ind., who was at Harpo Studios to see the show Friday morning. “You think of Chicago, you think of Oprah.” Winfrey hasn’t said she’s leaving Chicago, but there are indications it’s possible. She is widely expected to start up a new talk show on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, which is set to debut in January 2011. OWN hired “Oprah” co-executive producer Lisa Erspamer this month as its chief creative officer. She is expected to move from Chicago to Los Angeles in January. Nobody suggests Harpo Studios’ neighborhood will revert to the pre-Winfrey years, when it was all but impossible to catch a cab and there was no place to order a latte much less a nice meal. But the studio stands as a reminder of what has been, and what could be lost. |
- Sorry, Hawkeye; M*A*S*H gets bowled over
- Former Whidbey student shot
- County archive software paid for but waiting for set-up
- Ruling expected on Sultan beating statement
- ‘Roadkill’ caucus seeks a voice for centrist Democrats
- Police seek witnesses in two accidents
- PAWS calls out for critter care-givers
- Boeing has a busy test schedule
- Ex-Boeing engineer jailed for espionage
- Morning mystery: What happened to House Bill 3181?
- Lynnwood sets height limit on grass: 8 inches
(10) - State Senate votes to toss I-960's tax-raising hurdle (9)
- School levies in Snohomish County all passing, Marysville bond failing (7)
- Schools do well in levy elections (7)
- A tidy lawn could be law in Lynnwood (4)
- County archive software paid for but waiting for set-up (3)
- Lynnwood makes law against too tall lawns (3)
- Two suspects sought in Everett shooting that injured two (3)
- Vote on school levies by Tuesday (3)
- Sorry, Hawkeye; M*A*S*H gets bowled over (2)
- Jackson girls outlast Meadowdale owdale
- OBT raises barre in children’s program
- Junior firefighters
- School levies passing
- Mavericks topple Wolfpack
- Get a second look at Second City Feb. 13
- Sports Briefs
- Warriors advance 11 to regional meet
- Arlington's Cascade Valley Hospital celebrates expansion, national award and 100 years of service
- Business Licences Feb. 2010
- Technology tips for launching your own business
- Business Events Feb. 2010
- Tech Talk: No excuse today for going without a Web site
- State already raising fees and rates that restrict business growth
- Some legislators again targeting people’s initiative petition rights
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