In his very first episode, which aired locally in Dayton, Ohio, the host, who would go on to redefine such talk shows, interviewed one of the most notorious figures in America.

Phil Donahue, who died on Sunday at age 88, will long be remembered at the king of daytime television.

Starting in 1967 at a local Ohio station, he immediately set a new tone for what a talk show could be by tackling some of the most taboo topics of the day. His unique approach, which included making audience participation fundamental, proved wildly successful, and over the next 29 years, he would record more than 6,000 episodes of “The Phil Donahue Show” — shortened to “Donahue” during his heyday in the late 1970s and ’80s.

He was such a juggernaut that in Oprah Winfrey’s early days, she was told it would be impossible to compete. In an Instagram post on Monday that included

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