Rosie O'Donnell To Begin Talk Show At Harpo Studios
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Oprah Winfrey will soon be skipping town, but Rosie O'Donnell will soon take her place in the West Loop.
As CBS 2's Susanna Song reports, Winfrey's last show at the iconic Harpo Studios, 1058 W. Washington Blvd., will air on May 25.
But O'Donnell will begin taping a new hour-long daytime talk show at the studios soon afterward. It will air on Winfrey's OWN cable network, according to published reports.
The decision to put Rosie O'Donnell into Harpo Studios will not only help keep many jobs in Chicago, but it will also keep business in general booming in the West Loop.
Harpo Studios literally helped develop the West Loop over the past two decades and brought a lot of attention and business to the city.
O'Donnell made the announcement about her new show in a webcam video, which the Chicago Sun-Times has embedded on its Web site.
"Hello, people of Harpo. It's me, Rosie O'Donnell, from 'The Flintstones.' I just want to say hi, I'm coming to Chicago, yes I am, and I'm thrilled about it, and I get to work with all of you, who created magnificent television for two decades-plus," she said.
Winfrey has been taping from Harpo since January 1990, when she moved her show from the WLS-Channel 7 studio at 190 N. State St., the Chicago Tribune's Phil Rosenthal recalled.
But in November 2009, Winfrey announced she would be ending her daily talk show this year.
It is unclear how many of the approximately 350 Chicago employees who were working on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will keep their jobs and work on O'Donnell's program.
