Oprah Hits Airwaves, Not Campaign Trail

Mon., Sep. 25, 2006 11:10 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

Today the airwaves, tomorrow the free world?

No, if Oprah Winfrey has anything to say about it. Yes, if Patrick Crowe does.

On the same day that the multimedia maven expanded her empire by launching a channel on XM Satellite Radio, the first lady of daytime spoke out on a retired Missouri teacher's increasingly litigious campaign to get Winfrey to run for president.

Oprah and Friends, kicking off Monday, was first announced last February in a three-year $55 million deal between the mogul and XM Satellite Radio.

The channel follows an all Oprah, all the time format, featuring the anchor program, The Oprah and Gayle Show, along with shows by personalities that frequent her TV show.

Cohosted by Winfrey's best friend Gayle King, The Oprah and Gayle Show will feature the close--but not that close--twosome dishing on news and gossip and will air nightly.

"For me, being a part of XM Radio is a full-circle moment because I started out in radio when I was 16 years old, and now I'm able to share the airwaves with my friends," Winfrey said on Good Morning America Monday.

Winfrey described her show with King as simply a chat with her best friend that would let listeners feel like a fly on the wall.

"That's my come-down time," she said of her nightly calls with King, who echoed the sentiment.

"I've had five therapists, and nobody has been better than her," the sidekick said.

Oprah's BFF will also be pulling double-duty on the channel, hosting a solo chatfest, the imaginatively titled Gayle King Show, whose inaugural guests were slated to be--surprise, surprise--Winfrey and her longtime boyfriend, Steadman Graham.

Joining in the onair party will be such recognizable guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show as Maya Angelou, finance expert Jean Chatzky and fitness buff Bob Greene.

Several other high-profile pals have also signed on to appear in the coming weeks, including Annette Bening, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Bon Jovi, Donald Trump and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman.

One man who likely won't get an invitation: Patrick Crowe.

The retired Missouri math teacher has launched a presidential campaign encouraging the public to vote Oprah. The only problem: Winfrey's not running and her lawyers aren't pleased.

Attorneys for the media maven sent a cease-and-desist letter to Crowe Aug. 22, demanding that he remove Winfrey's picture from his site, www.oprah08.net, and his forthcoming book, saying his overzealous support violates trademark and copyright infringements.

Still, more than a month later, Crowe has not complied.

"It has become increasingly serious to me," he told the Kansas City Star of his frustration with the current administration and desire to see it replaced. "I know Oprah can do better than that."

As for her lack of formal qualifications, Crowe doesn't see it as an issue.

"This is not the girl you want to mess with. I think she'd be very good at it."

Of course, should she ever decide to run for office, she's already getting plenty of practice with diplomacy.

"I feel flattered by it," Winfrey told the Associated Press of Crowe's unbridled--and unsoliticited--backing. "My lawyers overreacted, I think, by sending him a cease-and-desist order because it really is a flattering thing."

Of course, no campaign is complete without its share of paraphernalia, and the Oprah '08 campaign has plenty.

In addition to hawking T-shirts, buttons and "Run, Oprah, Run" bumper stickers, visitors of Crowe's Website can also listen to the official campaign song, "If Oprah Was President," with the chorus:

"Oprah has charisma/Oprah's got style/Oprah loves the red, white and blue/And I believe there's problems that Oprah could solve/On Pennsylvania Avenue."

Catchy for sure, though unlikely to crack the rotation on XM.