Whoopi Goldberg Tunes In

Tue., May. 9, 2006 11:05 AM PDT by Sarah Hall

She's already won an Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Tony and two Golden Globes. Now Whoopi Goldberg wants to make radio waves.

The actress and comedian said Tuesday that she had signed with Clear Channel Communications Inc. to host a morning radio program called Wake Up With Whoopi, beginning July 31.

Goldberg said her show will be aimed at attracting female listeners who have increasingly strayed to morning television for lack of a better option.

"I'm going to talk to people. People are going to talk to me. I'm going to be singing and dancing in my chair. I'm going to wake people up," Goldberg told the Associated Press. "I want to have a good time in the morning, and I want everyone who wakes up with me to have a good time."

The former Hollywood Squares host said she was "not a shock jock" and would be providing a decidedly different morning radio experience than, say, that offered by Howard Stern.

"Howard Stern is one of a kind. There's nobody like him," Goldberg told Daily Variety. "After people saw what Howard was able to do, many people tried to emulate him. With all that's going on in the world, there's a place for me on the radio to offer up alternatives."

The show, which is slated to air during morning drive time, will feature a combination of music, chatter, guest interviews and call-ins. It will be syndicated nationally through Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s Premiere Radio Networks.

In a time where stars such as Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart have flocked to satellite radio, Goldberg said she opted for free terrestrial radio in the hopes of making a "big impact" on her listeners.

"It's not that I didn't want to do satellite or that it was not an option. But Clear Channel felt like a better fit for what I'm interested in doing," she told Reuters.

Financial terms of her deal with Clear Channel were not disclosed, nor were the specific stations that will air the show.

"Whoopi relates to people in a very intimate way, one on one. And that's the essence of radio. This is an opportunity to attract a wide variety of listeners," Clear Channel CEO John Hogan told Daily Variety.

Goldberg, who's been known to find herself at the center of the occasional controversy, said she planned to keep the show family friendly.

"The truth of the matter is when I'm doing my shows for HBO and my own work, it's a different kind of show. This will be a way to hang out with kids in the morning and get them going for school," she told Reuters.

"It's a different groove."