Fox and Friends Profile….
The New York Observer’s Rebecca Dana profiles the FNC show Fox and Friends…
Fox and Friends is the top-rated cable morning program (and it even occasionally beats The Early Show on CBS), but its success is often overlooked. It covers the same topics in roughly the same format as its brethren on the broadcast networks. But by positioning itself as the antithesis to standard mealy network fare, Fox has become an unlikely beneficiary of—and a factor in—the morning-show wars.
Constrained by their tightly scripted schedules, big gets and mountains of demographic research, the broadcast-network morning shows—despite their executive producers’ claims of unique strategies and distinct visions—all end up looking pretty much the same. Like everything else on the Fox news channel, Fox and Friends is made on the cheap with an eye toward high production value. The hosts specialize in unscripted banter, and they do best when there is big breaking news. Beholden to no one in particular, except the ever-present spirit of Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, producers can scrap whatever’s on the script and dedicate all three hours to the big story of the day. Several times this fall, Fox and Friends has seen its audience climb to around four million people—in range of Today and GMA, which average between five and six million viewers—on the back of breaking news.
Recently, Fox and Friends has begun making a play for the hefty morning-show advertising dollars that have made GMA, Today and even The Early Show such valuable profit centers in the otherwise financially downtrodden broadcast-network news divisions. The ratings leaps this fall, and Fox’s effort to cast its program as an “antidote,” in the words of Roger Domal, the network’s national sales director, have helped them win deals with the big morning advertisers: pharmaceutical companies, car manufacturers and large retailers, among others.
“I think that GMA and the Today show are very similar programs,” said Mr. Domal. “They’re segmented similarly. They have the same type of guests. Ours is a more free-flowing show. It has a lot of banter. There’s definitely a different feel to the program. People who watch stay with it for lengths of time and are very loyal to the program, and that’s what’s enabled us to jump up—both ratings-wise and revenue-wise.”
This show is a great way to start the day. The hosts are my favorite trifecta!
The column describes it perfectly.
Comment by Cara — November 2, 2005 @ 11:55 am
The Fox News Channel “Gets it”. They know the populous from the FLOP-ulous and know how to really connect with their audience. I’m ashamed that fellow St.Louisan, Bill Wolfe, is running MESS-NBC. He’s been given the helm of a, obviously, sinking ship but what is worse is the fact that he’s accepted it. All other, would be, cable news outlets are now relagated to always being in the rear view mirror of FNC and are actually becomeing smaller than they currently appear in that mirror with every lame attempt to compete for viewership.
Comment by Roger C. — November 2, 2005 @ 12:12 pm
Sorry, I prefer news and information in the morning. If I wanted ‘talk’ I would turn on the radio.
Comment by Anonymous — November 2, 2005 @ 2:33 pm
I enjoy news in the morning as well. I enjoyed the Fox and Friends interview this morning with the Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales.
Comment by Caroline S — November 2, 2005 @ 2:44 pm
OMFG!!! # 3 RAT please say something besides that in every post you make.
Comment by Lurker — November 2, 2005 @ 5:44 pm
I don’t watch this show on a regular basis but I saw something very disturbing the other morning while flipping through the channels. The other day, Brian Kilmeade was describing the climate at the white house following the Libby indictment. That would have been fine except that Mr. Kilmeade basically quoted the entire Newsweek article without ever citing where he got his information. He made it seem like this was some inside information that he had. Perhaps someone should remind him that he is violating certain rules of journalism.
Comment by bravesfan — November 2, 2005 @ 7:42 pm
I used to watch F&F weekdays several years ago. But, since ED’s attitude changed I avoid it.
Comment by Terance — November 2, 2005 @ 7:58 pm
#5…it’s the truth. FNC is talk radio on tv. TV is all about using pictures to tell a story. FNC tells a story by talking about it and debating in and commenting on it.
Comment by Anonymous — November 2, 2005 @ 9:37 pm