From her talk show, magazine and books, there are few things that Oprah Winfrey hasn’t had her name on. But, she may add another to the long list if a campaign to rename an airport after her takes off.
Oprah Winfrey waves during the Nelson Mandela Foundations Isthunzi Sabafazi The Dignity of Women conversation at the University of Johannesburgs (UJ) Soweto Campus. Image by Frennie Shivambu/Gallo Images/Getty Images
Sharon Hurt, a councillor in the Nashville metropolitan area, is proposing that the Nashvillle International Airport be renamed for Oprah Winfrey, who lived in the city for periods in her early years and studied in the city at the Tennessee State University after receiving a full scholarship. According to the Tennessean, Hurt is asking that the airport change its name to The Oprah G. Winfrey Nashville International Airport.
Robert’s Western World in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Image by ©Philip Chang/500px
The airport will soon undergo a massive renovation and Hurt said in an interview that changing the name will be an opportunity to “recognize someone of Oprah’s stature”. However, the council does not choose the airport name, it is done by the Nashville Airport Authority Board. Airport officials have said the change would violate their naming policy, which requires that buildings or facilities be named only after those who have been dead for at least two years, and have made a contribution to aviation or the airport itself.
Hurt said that that Oprah is one of the stars that Nashville created, according to News Channel 5 Nashville. Oprah’s career started in the city when she began working for a local radio station and later becoming a news anchor at a Nashville station in the early 1970s. However, News Channel 5 Nashville interviewed travellers at the airport to see what they thought, and while some supported the idea, others thought she had not had as many impacts in Nashville as other local celebrities.
Hurt is aiming to meet with airport officials, but it remains to be seen whether her proposal will move forward.
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