Wendy Williams: unapologetic radio host gets her shot at network TV

Jet, July 21, 2008 by Marti Parham

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

For 22 years, New York radio personality Wendy Williams has been dishing the dirt from her radio booth on the rich, famous and noted celebrities. Now she's taking her show in a different direction. This time Williams is doing what she does best from the set of the FOX network on her own TV talk show.

"I would like to say that I'm 100 percent humble," Williams tells JET. "I am humble but I'm also deserving ... I've earned this."

The FOX network realized that she was deserving of this opportunity as well.

"The proof was in the pudding," says Debmar Mercury, senior vice president of programming. "She has been No. 1 in the nation's most competitive market (New York) for years, so we knew that she has had appeal and a built-in loyal audience. This was a no-brainer for us. Personality, skills, success-it is clearly Wendy's time."

"The Wendy Williams Show," which premieres July 14 in New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas and Detroit, is an hour-long daytime program scheduled to air for six weeks in front of a live studio audience.

What makes this talk show unique?

According to Williams, who is co-executive producer of the show along with her husband of 10 years, Kevin Hunter, it is the fact that there is no real format to follow. She also predicts that her "Ask Wendy" segment of the show, which features a truth booth, will take daytime talk to "a whole other level."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"As a fan of talk shows, one of' the problems that I see is that they are too scripted. That makes the audience kind of scripted, the host kind of mannequin-like, and the guests deliver a lot of the same old interviews. My only format is for fun and empowerment for women."

Topics up for discussion? Fashion, food, family, music and of course, good old celebrity gossip.

Williams, 43, known for her in-your-face interview style, has also been the topic of discussion recently because of the hype surrounding a sex video on the Internet that allegedly features Hunter and because of a recent $5 million-plus lawsuit brought by Nicole Spence, talent booker/publicist for the WBLS radio show "The Wendy Williams Experience," which was featured as a reality show on VH1.

According to the Associated Press, Spence filed a suit claiming sexual harassment against Hunter, who is also Williams' manager, saying that he repeatedly propositioned Spence.

Williams, a New York Times best-selling author who is also the mother of a 7-year-old son, denies all recent allegations and says that Hunter is not the man on the sex video.

A native of Ocean Township, NJ, Williams admits that she is not used to being the person in the hot seat.

"It feels a little weird ... But you know what? I'm innocent ... There is not a shred of truth to anything regarding that story," she says, referring to the suit.

"This feels like more publicity for this TV show. I wish that I could talk to you about the headlines more but that's now in the hands of a big team of lawyers and when I finally can talk-believe me, I'll talk."

"The Wendy Williams Show" airs Monday through Friday on FOX. Cheek your local listings for times.