Sally Jessy Raphael’s Open House
10A-12:00P M-F
XM Radio 158
She hosted a radio call-in advice show distributed by NBC Talknet from 1981 to 1987, but is most famous for hosting the television talk show, Sally Jessy Raphael (later shortened to simply Sally), which ran in first-run syndication from 1983 to 2002. She was best known to TV viewers for her big, red-framed glasses, and the Kleenex tissues she handed out liberally to crying guests.
In later years, her show moved toward topics such as unwed mothers who did not know the father of their babies, and wild, sexually-active teenagers who were sent to boot camp; in this regard, her show had become reminscient of shows hosted by Maury Povich and Jerry Springer. At its core, her show had not previously touched such topics, going for less controversial subject matter.
Raphael spoke out in the press against the change to more raunchy material, but she continued the show, insisting that she’d rather be on television with lower ratings than end her career entirely. When her talk show became one of the lowest-rated talk shows in syndication by the early 2000s, the show was eventually canceled by the production company in charge of distribution.
In 2002 Raphael was one of only three people named on both industry publication Talkers magazine’s 25 greatest radio, and 25 greatest television, talk show hosts of all time lists.
