Gayle King does it her way
Gayle King is one of the country’s most well-known broadcast journalists today, and she still manages to keep relevant in the fast-paced media life. Many people know her as Oprah Winfrey’s good friend , but King made sure to make a name for herself.
Regardless of King’s connections and help, she was diligent in figuring out the media world for herself.
Ironically, King was originally not interested in being on TV or even being a journalist. In fact, her degrees are in psychology and sociology.
She majored in psychology because she always liked to listen to other people’s problems and give her unsolicited advice. Her goal was to open her own practice with her psychology degree.
If psychology didn’t work out, her second option was to go to law school.
“I thought I’d be great in front of a jury trying to argue my case or convince jurors to see things my way and putting away criminals,” King said in an interview with USA Today. “I was not going to represent guilty people.”
What steered her in the journalism direction was an entry-level position at a TV station when she was in college.
“I became hooked,” King said.
King’s career started as a production assistant at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, when she met Oprah Winfrey, who was the station’s anchor at the time. King later received training as a reporter at WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C.
After working at WJZ, she relocated to Kansas City, where she worked as a weekend anchor and general assignment reporter at WDAF-TV. She began working as a news anchor for WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1981 and stayed there for 18 years. She spent some time in Glastonbury, Connecticut.
She was given the opportunity to host “The Gayle King Program” in 1997, a syndicated talk show that was terminated after one season owing to poor ratings. King started presenting on XM Satellite Radio in September 2006.
Although her show was canceled in 1997, that did not stop King from continuing to pursue her journalism career. In 1999 King joined O, the Oprah Magazine, as an editor.
King’s extended career as a journalist has earned her a number of accolades. Along with three Emmys, she also received the Gracie Award for Outstanding Radio Talk Show from the American Women in Radio & Television in 2008 and the Individual Achievement Award for Host-Entertainment/Information, and the New York Women in Communications’ Matrix Award in 2010.