It's what you know that can get you on 'Oprah'
Tips for using the hotline and Web site, and one other way to be one of the lucky 325 people in her audience
09:59 AM CST on Friday, December 16, 2005
By KEVIN PANG / Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO Oh. My. Oprah. We got into her show. Jealousssss?
Indeed, hubris is a virtue when it comes to getting tickets for The Oprah Winfrey Show. It's known as one of the toughest gets in Chicago, on par with buying White Sox postseason tickets at face value.
But once we did, we felt like Charlie Bucket, finding that golden ticket inside the chocolate bar, and our prize was a trip inside the magic factory of Harpo Studios.
Follow our journey and then use the lessons we learned. Getting in is not as hard as you think.
Fact: The odds of getting in the Oprah audience are against you.
Consider this: The nationally syndicated show, which tapes August through May in the West Loop, has roughly 45,500 tickets allotted this season. To put that in perspective, 41,206 fans attended Game 1 of the World Series at U.S. Cellular Field.
More number crunching: An estimated 8 million tune in to The Oprah Winfrey Show each day. Only 325 people attend each taping, a Harpo Productions spokeswoman said (yeah, like Oprah would talk to us), 25 more seats than in previous seasons. And you may attend only once every six weeks they keep your name on file.
Tip 1: Try requesting tickets in January and February, in the dead of Chicago's winter. Even at that time, tickets will be hard to come by, but don't relent. Just think of the potential rewards: hobnobbing with Julia Roberts, watching an army of tuxedo-clad servers parade out with trays of Oprah's favorite brownies. And we don't even need to mention the show where she gives away the cotton terry robes and plasma TVs.
Fact: Getting tickets requires a level of determination somewhere between persistence and neurosis.
Consider this: Alicia Mangham wanted to get tickets for her friend Denise Bergqvist's 50th birthday. Working from Miami for a pharmaceutical company, Ms. Mangham decided on a September morning to call the hotline, and would not stop until she got tickets. Her first call logged in at 10 a.m.
Most times, Ms. Mangham got the three-tone "we're sorry, all circuits are busy" message.
"I considered it a success when I got a busy tone," Ms. Mangham said.
Six hours later, with blisters literally forming on her finger, Ms. Mangham's call went through. She felt a mixture of euphoria and disbelief. A few minutes later, Ms. Mangham and four friends were on the reservation list. The show's Web site said you can reserve up to four seats at a time, though in Ms. Mangham's case, she negotiated for one more seat.
Tip 2: The show's Web site claims that there's usually a lull in calls between 1:30 and 3 p.m. Central time. "Worst time to call: right after the show, when everybody thinks of it!"
When the Web site announced the ticket hotline was opened, we started dialing. 312-591-9222. Busy. 591-9222. We dialed again. 591-9222. And again and again. For three months, our fingers danced the keypad lambada for hours at a time. Nothing.
We're pretty sure the hotline is not the most efficient way to get a seat. You can certainly try, but unless you have a lot of spare time, stay away from the phone line.
Fact: Many ticket seekers find success by e-mailing the show.
Consider this: Sara Semal moved to Chicago in September and made it her goal to get in the audience. She bookmarked Oprah.com and checked three, four times a day. She clicked on the "E-mail: Last-minute available reservations" section, which usually lists a number of show topics that might pique certain viewers' interest. "Are you a woman who let yourself go?" "Are you a Leonardo DiCaprio fan?" Prospective audience members write a short essay on why they'd be a good fit.
Ms. Semal did this, writing in every day for a week and a half. On her 10th try, after writing an essay on why she's a fan of Geena Davis, Sara received a call from the Oprah ticket office. They asked if she could attend the show the following Wednesday.
Tip 3: A spokeswoman for Harpo Productions would not reveal the criteria for selecting audience members, nor how many ticket requests they get each week. So we asked Ms. Semal for her tips on writing in:
"Make yours stand apart from the rest by writing something funny or unique," she said. "Also, have IMDB.com bookmarked so that you can quickly search for information on the celebrity or subject matter being advertised for last-minute reservations. (That page can change hourly.) Even if you've never heard of the person or subject before, be ready to explain why you love or relate to them."
Fact: Despite the generic term of "Oprah tickets," there are, in fact, no tickets.
Consider this: You can't just show up at Harpo Studios, wait in line and expect to get in. And if scalpers try to sell you a ticket, you're being scammed. Your name has to be on the reservation list, Oprah publicists tell us, and the only way of getting on the list is through the hotline or the show's Web site. That said, we found one more way of getting in.
Tip 4: Don't try to crash the party. And don't pay for tickets.
Fact: If you're a guest, a hotel concierge might be able to get you tickets.
Consider this: There are about 40 upscale hotels in Chicago that have a private ticket hotline to Harpo Productions. This is how Kathy McClanathan, president of the Chicago Hotel Concierge Association, explained the process: "They have to be a physical guest at the hotel, and tickets are never, ever guaranteed. Every week I send an e-mail to all the concierges about Oprah's taping schedule. If there's a show [they want to attend], our guests have to tell us the day before. We won't reserve tickets in advance. We call the hotline at 2 p.m. and leave a voice message. If the producers call us back before 5 p.m., our guests' names are put on a list. They are given a purple card, which guarantees them a seat."
"Sometimes our guests are put in the concierge standby line. There's no purple card for that. If there's room, they get in, but it's not guaranteed. Last week, nine guests at my hotel got in the show. The week before, two guests got in. We can go a week or two and nobody would ask for tickets. Again, they have to be a guest staying at the hotel," with no guarantees.
Tip 5: Find out when the show is taping. Stay at a hotel the day before a show, and ask the concierge before 2 p.m.
Fact: It's worth it in the end, even if just to say, "I went on The Oprah Winfrey Show."
Consider this: We arrived for the 1 p.m. taping two hours early, as recommended by the show's producers (the show tapes twice a day, generally at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Tuesday through Thursdays). After the metal detectors and a stop at the check-in desk, we were whisked to the upstairs holding area where we waited with women (and a few men) dressed in their Sunday best. It was like being in the Oprah wing of the Louvre, if such a thing existed: We were surrounded by 18 pictures of Oprah, and three televisions played highlights from the show.
The set looked smaller in person, and resembled a soundstage from Star Trek. During the obligatory audience warm-ups, Ms. Semal was given an autographed copy of O Magazine, just for bringing a man to the show. The male gender is a rare breed at Harpo Studios (there were two restrooms for women, one for men).
That was the only giveaway that day. No plasma TVs, no cotton terry robes, no Oprah's favorite brownies. But we did see Geena Davis and nine other women "Oprah wants you to know."
One major disappointment: the lack of interaction Oprah had with the audience. She walked in, did the show, and left. It was like seeing Halley's comet.
It all seemed a bit mechanical, but we left the taping four hours after we arrived, impressed at how efficiently the Oprah ship ran.
Tip 6: If at first you don't succeed, try, try you know. And when you do, don't dress like a schlub (or in white or beige).
Ticket hotline: 312-591-9222;
www.oprah.com.
I guess I should expect better from the DIS folks.
