US talk show host Phil Donahue dies at 88

NEW YORK: Phil Donahue, a pioneering US talk show host, has died at the age of 88. Donahue´s death in Manhattan on Sunday following a long illness was announced on NBC´s Today Show, where he made frequent appearances from 1979 to 1988.

“The Phil Donahue Show,” launched in 1967, was the first on daytime US television to feature audience participation. It remained popular through the 1970s and into the 1980s, earning Donahue numerous Emmy Awards, and the format was adopted by future talk show hosts such as Oprah Winfrey. The Donahue show was also notable for bringing conversations about controversial issues such as abortion, religion and sex to daytime television.