Tamron Hall keeps the talk flowing on daytime TV show
After tumultuous exit from NBC, she’s found new niche
After veteran TV journalist Tamron Hall made a deal in 2018 to host her own daily daytime talk show, she heard plenty of warnings about the challenges ahead.
Tyra Banks told Hall it would be the toughest job she’s ever had. Sally Jessy Raphael told her to “watch her back.” Oprah Winfrey, who remains the model for all aspiring hosts, said: “I don’t know how you do it being a mom, because it takes every ounce of you.”
When another talk show host Hall met at a party sounded off on the topic, she had a retort ready.
“I said, ‘My grandfather was a sharecropper who was born in 1901, and he couldn’t read,’ ” the Texas native recalled. “I make my living with words. I’ll figure it out.”
Hall did figure it out. On Dec. 4, her show, “Tamron Hall,” hit its 760th episode, making it the secondlongest-running syndicated talk show in the history of the Walt Disney Co. The program airs on Disney’s ABC stations, including KABC Channel 7 in Los Angeles, and other outlets covering 95% of the U.S.
On Friday, Hall is up for the talk host award at the Daytime Emmy Awards. It’s her third such nomination, and she’s won the category twice. In 2020, Hall was the first freshman host to get the honor.
While Hall has mastered the grind of daily hosting, the program also has to contend with the current TV landscape upended by the consumer shift to streaming video.
The daytime talk show was once a major staple for viewers, providing a portal into pop culture and a source of companionship for people at home during the day.
But like the rest of the traditional TV business, the genre has been in a steady decline in recent years as it now competes against big-budget scripted programs on streaming servicesthat viewers can watch any time on demand. Even older folks,