They’re trying to keep it so quiet that they have made several people sign confidentiality contracts so that all information about her talk show being filmed in Williamson is kept secret and private.
The show will be a part of Winfrey's show's 25th and last season.
In 1987, she came to Williamson to discuss AIDS in a small town and to focus on Mike Sisco, a Williamson-area man with AIDS, who had been kicked out of the Williamson swimming pool. The pool was shut down and cleaned and the story made national headlines, even making the front cover of US News & World Report.
Then came Oprah.
The program, taped at the Williamson Fieldhouse in West Williamson, was a town-hall type show, with people waiting in line to talk on camera at a microphone. The responses were very emotional at times and banjo music was played as the show faded out to commercials.
Now, as she nears the end of her long-running talk show, Winfrey will be back in Williamson reportedly to see how attitudes and perceptions have changed in the 23 years since she last visited.
A spokesperson for Harpo Productions, Winfrey's production company, said Monday that staff members have been in Williamson doing pre-interviews and Winfrey, herself, will be there on Wednesday to interview each person for the show.
"It is a closed set. When we came there the first time (in 1987) it was sort of an open, town hall, and it is really not that format this time. It is more-intimate interviews with people who appeared on that first show.
It is not open to the public the way the first show was," Don Halcombe, a spokesperson for the production company, said. "We're headed into our 25th season and we're taking a look back at some of the shows over the years that were most memorable for our viewers. And, certainly, the original Williamson episode was one that really touched a chord. We want to take a look back in this new season and get updates from some of the community members that were involved the first time around."
Halcombe said the air date for the Williamson show has not been set, but it will be part of the upcoming season, which begins on September 13.
"Production has been reaching out and they are conducting interviews this week," Halcombe said. "(Winfrey) is planning to be in town for (the Wednesday show). She is doing the interviews while she is there. She will be speaking with people who appeared in the original episode. The producers do pre-interviews with people, but then the actual interview is done by Ms. Winfrey."
Halcombe would not say what time Winfrey will tape the show at the Williamson Fieldhouse. He said the set is closed and there won't be an opportunity for the media to get photos or interviews with Winfrey.
"I know they have placed calls to several different people," Halcombe said. "They have spoken with the mayor and I know they have spoken with several people who were prominently featured in the original episode."
A spokesperson for Starter’s restaurant in Williamson said she had signed a confidentiality contract with the show and could not release any details to The Daily News. She said she would be speaking with a producer later in the day and would ask if she could give any details to the newspaper about the show. She did not returned the call.
"Usually, when guests appear on our show, we ask that they tell their story to us, exclusively," Halcombe said of the confidentiality contract. "That's really standard procedure before we tape an episode."
Halcombe said Winfrey isn't already staying in Williamson.
Pierce Whitt, who runs the Strosnider Apartments where representatives of the show had been staying while they did interviews, did not return repeated phone calls and requests for information all last week and was unavailable for comment on Monday.
Dr. C. Donovan Beckett, who was a lifeguard at the Williamson Pool when it was closed in 1987 after AIDS victim Mike Sisco swam there and who has been reportedly working with the production crew, has also not returned several phone calls to The Daily News.
A spokesperson for the Williamson Police Department said they had no information on the show, as did Mingo County Sheriff Lonnie Hannah and a spokesperson for the West Virginia State Police detachment in Williamson.
But, Williamson Mayor Darrin McCormick said he can confirm he has spoken with production staff from the Oprah Winfrey Show.
“To my knowledge, there is only going to be private interviews, no public show or opportunity (for Winfrey) to mingle with the public,” McCormick said. “The last time, they built a stage and that’s not what’s happening this time. They are revisiting the 1987 show, so we hope they shed a better light on the area this time around. If you look at her purpose (in 1987), it was a controversial subject that needed to be brought out, but, hopefully, this time, we can illustrate a more progressive attitude about things. I would think the whole world is better educated about how the disease is contracted and treated.”
McCormick said in his dealings with the production staff of the show, he tried to show them the good aspects of the area.
“My goal is that we be portrayed in a positive way and to show the good things about our communities,” McCormick said.
McCormick was not the mayor when the Sisco incident happened in 1987. The mayor then was Sam Kapourales and he ordered the pool shut down after Sisco was evicted from the premises.
McCormick said he has spoken with the Oprah Winfrey production staff, who has been staying in Williamson.
“I will confirm that they have been in the area doing private interviews,” McCormick said. “They asked me if I was familiar with the situation, but I was just familiar with it through heresay. Some people have already been interviewed. There won’t be an audience or a stage or anything like that.”
McCormick said he hopes Winfrey will portray the area in a more positive light than the way it was portrayed in 1987.
“Anytime we have visitors from out of this area, they arrive with a preconceived misconception of how we are. They think we’re all barefoot and pregnant,” McCormick said. “I have yet to meet individuals or a group that have not changed their opinion once they visited here. They leave knowing we’re extremely hospitable. Lots of individuals from all over the country come here for several reasons, like the Hatfield-McCoy Trails, our historic heritage, the mine wars and labor disputes or to tour our historic sites. People always leave with a different opinion than the opinion they had when they arrived. We hope that the same holds true for the Oprah Show and that they leave with a much better opinion of the people of the Tug Valley.”
Information on www.oprah.com site confirms Winfrey’s visit to Williamson for a show during her final season on the air, although it does not give the date nor the time of the show. Sources in Williamson said it will happen early Wednesday morning.
“One of our most important shows was back in 1987 when we hit the road for a town hall in Williamson, West Virginia,” the web site said. “Mike Sisco was living with AIDS in Williamson... a community divided by fear and confusion surrounding the then deadly disease.
“Do you remember this show? Do you remember watching the show and having a strong opinion? Has you opinion on AIDS and AIDS victims changed since 1987? Were you inspired by Mike's story in some way?
“If you remember watching this show and you were changed or inspired because of the stories shared, we want to hear from you!”
Mike Sisco’s story was featured on the Oct. 12, 1987, edition of U.S. News & World Report in a story entitled “AIDS — When Fear Takes Charge.”
The article detailed the problems Sisco, who was called “Steve Forrest” in the story, faced when he returned home to his native Williamson with the deadly disease and how he was shunned by the community.
A report in the Williamson Daily News on July 14, 1987, said the Williamson city pool was closed after Sisco swam in it. The story made the headline of the paper and an image of the newspaper was used in the article.
The article also detailed how Sisco’s family shunned him, including close relatives. The article also detailed how rumors of Sisco trying to infect the town had gone around.
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