 "Oprah" had its roots in "A.M. Chicago", a half-hour morning talk show airing on WLS-TV, an ABC owned-and-operated station in Chicago.Winfrey took over as host on January 2, 1984, and, within a month, took it from last place to first place in local Chicago ratings.Following Winfrey's success in—and Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for-her performance as Sofia in the film "The Color Purple", on September 8, 1986, the talk show was relaunched under its current title and picked up nationally.