Phil Donahue - The Phil Donahue Show

On November 6, 1967, Donahue left WHIO, moving his talk program to television with The Phil Donahue Show on WLWD (now WDTN), also in Dayton. Initially, the program was shown only on other stations owned by the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation (which would later take the name of its parent Avco Company), which also owned WLWD. But, in January 1970, The Phil Donahue Show entered nationwide syndication. Donahue's syndicated show was originally taped in Chicago where he worked and lived: then in 1984, he moved the show to New York City to be near his wife Marlo Thomas.

After a 29-year run—26 years in syndication—and nearly 7,000 one-hour daily shows, the final original episode of Donahue aired on September 13, 1996, culminating what remains the longest continuous run of any syndicated talk show in U.S. television history. Donahue will continue to remain the longest continiously running syndicated talk show until at least 2015, if or when Live! with Kelly completes it's 27th season in national syndication. If Live does not complete a 27th season, Maury and Jerry Springer would both pass in 2018, having both been on the air since 1991.

He is known for giving birth to "Shock Journalism" opening the doors as a pioneer to forementioned TV hosts.

While hosting his own program, Donahue also appeared on NBC's The Today Show as a contributor, from 1980 until 1982. From 1991 to 1994 he also co-hosted Pozner/Donahue, a weekly, issues-oriented roundtable program with Soviet journalist Vladimir Pozner, which aired both on CNBC and in syndication.