Tabloid TV

Daytime programming also underwent significant changes in the 1980s. Until mid-decade, daytime television schedules had remained relatively stable for almost 30 years. Morning news and information shows such as Today (NBC, begun 1952) and Good Morning America (ABC, begun 1975) were followed by a mix of soap operas, game shows, domestic variety programs, and children’s shows. A new genre, the audience-participation talk show (also called the “tabloid talk show” by many of its detractors), changed the face of daytime TV. As stations made room in their schedules for these programs, the game show virtually disappeared from daytime schedules during this period, with the exception of The Price Is Right (NBC/ABC, 1956–65; CBS, begun 1972), which was still running at the dawn of the 21st century after more than 40 years. Audience-participation talk shows were inexpensive to produce, and they were very popular among a daytime audience that had grown more diverse since the early days of television. In most of these programs, an informal host would conversationally present a topic, introduce guests (often noncelebrities), and then invite audience members to voice their opinions. The subject matter might include many of the themes that were already available in other types of daytime programming, including household tips, beauty advice, family counseling, soap-opera-like family conflicts, and tear-jerking reunions. The more relaxed content standards of the day, however, also made possible the presentation of some absolutely scandalous subjects.

The genre really got started in 1970 with The Phil Donahue Show (syndicated, 1970–96), a gentle hour-long program in which Donahue would explore a single topic with a collection of guests and then moderate comments and questions from the audience. Not until 1985 did Donahue have any significant competition in the genre. That year, Sally Jessy Raphael (syndicated, 1985–2002) debuted, using the Donahue format but specializing in more titillating subjects. The Oprah Winfrey Show (later Oprah; syndicated, 1986–2011) did the same a year later. It quickly became a hit. Imitations began appearing, and the competition grew so fierce that many programs began to feature increasingly outrageous subject matter. Geraldo (syndicated, 1987–98), hosted by sensationalist journalist Geraldo Rivera, featured prostitutes, transsexuals, white supremacists, and other groups seldom given voice on TV before this time. His guests often became combative and sometimes actually fought onstage. Jenny Jones (syndicated, 1991–2003) specialized in guests with salacious and unconventional stories, usually of a sexual nature, and Ricki Lake (syndicated, 1993–2004) was designed especially for younger female audiences. Jerry Springer (syndicated, begun 1991) was the most extreme and notorious of the shows, presenting shocking guests, stories, and conflicts. Many episodes featured fistfights, intervention by security employees, and an audience reveling in blood lust. Although Donahue left the air in 1996 rather than try to compete with such programs, Oprah Winfrey achieved great success after redesigning her show as the classy, discrete example of the genre. Her show became a cultural phenomenon, and she became one of the most popular and powerful figures in the entertainment industry.

Reorganization and deregulation

All of the media industries experienced significant corporate reorganization during the 1980s as they became concentrated under the ownership of fewer and fewer companies. The creation of Time Warner, Inc., in 1989 was a striking example of the new era of media conglomerates. It, as well as other U.S. conglomerates that were formed shortly thereafter, controlled holdings in book publishing and distribution, magazines, cable channels, cable systems, TV production, music recording companies, television stations, home video, film production, syndication, and more. Synergy, the ability of a company to package an idea in an assortment of forms—from books to TV series to soundtrack recordings and beyond—became the buzzword of the day.

The threat of cable and the falling profits made the broadcast networks vulnerable to this trend as well. For the first time in more than 30 years, a major network—all three of them, in fact—would change owners in the 1980s. In 1985 the General Electric Company purchased RCA, the parent company of NBC. The next year, Capital Cities Communications acquired ABC, and shortly thereafter Lawrence Tisch, the chair of the investment conglomerate Loew’s, Inc., purchased a quarter of CBS’s stock and took over as head of the company.

In 1987 the A.C. Nielsen company, which had been purchased by Dun and Bradstreet in 1984, introduced a new technique for measuring ratings in its national market sample. The “people meter” not only measured when a TV set was turned on and the channel to which it was tuned but also supplied information about who was watching by asking viewers to indicate their presence with a keypad (replaced by a scanning device in 1989). The networks objected to this method of gathering ratings, which consistently returned numbers that were lower than the old method had delivered. The device allowed advertisers, however, to focus their time purchases more specifically on their demographic needs.

The years of the administration of Pres. Ronald Reagan were a time of intense deregulation of the broadcast industry. Mark Fowler and Dennis Patrick, both FCC chairmen appointed by Reagan, advocated free-market philosophies in the television industry. Fowler frankly described modern television as a business rather than a service. In 1981 he stated that “television is just another appliance. It’s a toaster with pictures.” Fowler’s position was a far cry from the approach of Newton Minow, who argued that government needed to play an intimate role in serving the public interest as charged in the Communications Act of 1934. Deregulation supporters advocated a “healthy, unfettered competition” between TV broadcasters. Deregulation had begun in the late 1970s, but it accelerated in earnest under the leadership of Fowler, who led the FCC from 1981 to 1987. By 1989 several major changes had been made in the 1934 act. The FCC itself was reduced from seven to five commissioners, and terms for television-station licenses were increased from three to five years. Single corporate owners once limited to owning 7 stations nationally (only 5 in the VHF range) were then allowed to own 12 stations. Furthermore, the 1949 Fairness Doctrine, which charged stations with scheduling time for opposing views on important controversial issues, was eliminated. The growth of the cable industry was also spurred by significant deregulation in 1984.