NEW YORK — Any fan of talk-show host Wendy Williams knows her signature question: “How you doin’?” in a thick New Jersey accent.
Put it to her now and the answer has to be, “pretty well, thanks.” Williams is holding her own in a tough business, even growing her audience in some measurements during her seventh season. “The Wendy Williams Show” is watched by roughly 2 million people each day.
The bejewelled microphone she carries and the collection of wigs in her dressing room speak to Williams’ outsized personality. She’s noticeably toned things down, however, to broaden her appeal.
“Much like Obama winning the White House, you cannot just deal with your base — black women and gay men,” Williams said. “You’ve got to learn to bend a little bit to expand, but you can’t alienate your people.”
A successful New York disc jockey, Williams had been approached for talk shows in the past. She admittedly copped some attitude when producers Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein called her husband/business partner Kevin Hunter in 2007 to suggest a meeting. “I thought, ‘here we go again,’ ” Williams recalled.
She came in determined not to compromise. No short wigs. No flat shoes. No khakis. No cleansing the Jersey from her voice. To her surprise, she found Marcus and Bernstein had called because they liked what she did.
“They wanted to do a talk show centered around a host, as opposed to formulating a talk show and dropping a host in the middle,” she said. “That’s where a lot of people get it screwed up.”
Talk shows fail more often than succeed, but Williams has settled comfortably into the middle of the pack. She trails leaders like Dr. Phil and Ellen DeGeneres, but outdraws a second tier of Dr. Oz, Jerry Springer, Rachael Ray and the like. The time slots she’s been given are improving, as much a measure of success as ratings, said Bill Carroll, an expert in the syndication market for Katz Media. Her audience skews young.
“She didn’t walk away from who she is, but over time they made her more accessible,” Carroll said. “When she came on, she was a lot more New York and a lot more like she was on the radio. She’s grown into television.”
Williams acknowledged the transition wasn’t easy.
“It is difficult to not leave behind that 30-year-old black woman who has listened to me since she was 10,” she said. “But yes, I want to have Sarah Jessica Parker on the show.”
This season already she’s had an eclectic mix of celebrity guests. Eva Mendes, Taye Diggs, Gloria Allred, The Game, Al Sharpton, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Eichner, George Takei and Ja Rule have stopped by.
