Ed Bark blogs about Larry King and Glenn Beck at the TCA Tour…

And so it begins. Day One of a dozen-day TV “press tour” dawned Tuesday with 73-year-old Larry King still kicking and CNN planning a big blowout this April to celebrate his 50 years behind a mike.

Suspender-less in a dark suit and black mini-boots, King pronounced himself good to go for another decade or so. Or as CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton put it, “In 20 years time, when Larry retires…”

He’s been doing CNN’s Larry King Live since June 1985, and “some people say I look better now than I did 10 years ago,” he opined. He did look pretty chipper, even if Walton pointedly referenced his age by telling TV critics, “There’s no question that Larry can sit in his chair as long as he continues to perform.”

Reese blogs about MSNBC in 2006…

The big news of 2006 is the ascent of MSNBC; it’s now a real competitor in the 24-hour news race. Last year MSNBC averaged 385,000 viewers in primetime. But averaging masks true gains because MSNBC was adding viewers throughout the year and finished with far more viewers than its yearly average.

The week of January 1st MSNBC had 550,000 viewers almost 200,000 more than they had averaged last year. They’ve almost doubled their viewers since the beginning of ’06 thanks to Keith Olbermann and lately Joe Scarborough. Those numbers are almost incredible and I can’t think of any other cable network that’s had that big an upswing in that amount of time.

FNC’s Brit Hume after President Bush’s address…

It is probably past the point now where it makes much difference politically whether the President delivers his speech in a scintillating way or whether it’s a particularly well written speech or not a particularly well written speech. What matters it seems to me is likely to prove to be the plan itself and it’s likelihood of success as the President went farther perhaps in saying tonight about the situation in Iraq ‘miscalculations and mistakes have been made,’ he said that was his responsibility.

UPDATE: Chris Wallace was the first to interview Senator John McCain after the address…
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Screen shot of CNN’s pre-address coverage…

TVNewser notes that Gretchen Carlson on Fox and Friends this morning characterized Ted Kennedy a “hostile enemy on the home front” for wanting Congressional approval of a troop surge. Tonight on Countdown, Keith Olbermann tagged Carlson Worst Person in the World…

During a commercial tease around 7:20 pm ET, live on TV, Chris Matthews had a short circuit. Or something…

Coming up…

Can President Bush’s make the public think he has a plan for Iraq? And will they support him?

More within…

more withinthnix (garbled)

G-ge-get-get that out of there…

get that out of…

(fadeout)

Apparently, Matthews didn’t like what was written on the teleprompter and forgot he was live.

After the Presidential address tonight, Hannity & Colmes will have on five possible 2008 Presidential candidates; fomer NYC Mayor Rudolph Guliani, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, Arizona Senator John McCain, Arkansas Governer Mike Huckabee, and former Congressman Newt Gingrich.

FNC had another strong night. O’Reilly was tops as usual but Hannity & Colmes (with Kirsten Powers subbing for Colmes) was right up there over the 2,000,000 mark and the number 1 Demo total of the evening. Larry King Live was uncharacteristically flat with only a little of half a million viewers and being beaten by Paula Zahn Now. The MSNBC debut of Warrior Nation had a glass jaw and fell quickly in the first round (translation: it barely beat CNBC for fourth place).

Cable News Ratings for January 9, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 954,000 viewers
CNN – 490,000 viewers
MSNBC – 274,000 viewers
CNBC – 220,000 viewers
HLN – 195,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,053,000 viewers
CNN – 604,000 viewers
MSNBC – 394,000 viewers
CNBC – 362,000 viewers
HLN – 353,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 271,000 viewers
CNN – 181,000 viewers
MSNBC –107,000 viewers
CNBC – 83,000 viewers
HLN – 82,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 490,000 viewers
CNN – 243,000 viewers
MSNBC – 139,000 viewers
CNBC – 131,000 viewers
HLN –133,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 864,000 viewers (361,000)
American Morning – 316,000 viewers (118,000)
Imus in The Morning- 374,000 viewers (157,000)
Robin & Co. – 177,000 viewers (79,000)
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CNN announced that Larry King Live will be doing an hour special on Fisher House, Saturday Jan 13th.

CNN’s Larry King devotes the Saturday, Jan. 13, edition of Larry King Live to the Fisher House Foundation, profiling an organization that provides temporary residences for families of patients receiving major medical care at military and Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers.

For the hour, the program will include King’s interview with Fisher House Foundation chairman Ken Fisher, as well as interviews with military patients and their families staying at Fisher Houses in Fort Campbell, Ky.; Palo Alto, Calif; San Diego; and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Other guests include musician Wynonna Judd and actor Gary Sinise.
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CNN.com has a page dedicated to Dr Sanjay Gupta’s Cancer Special, scheduled to air this weekend on CNN. Lance Armstrong, who will be appearing on Gupta’s special, has a commentary posted…

I’m not known for my patience. Patience is a polite quality and often appropriate, but it rarely gets things done. Impatience, however, is the hunger for results and intolerance for excuses and delays. Impatience got me over countless mountain passes, across the finish line in New York City and through four rounds of ruthless chemotherapy 10 years ago.

Yet this election season I patiently waited to hear a candidate for office explain to constituents what he or she planned to do about one of the leading threats to the health and well-being of all Americans — cancer. My patience was greeted with silence.

Cancer will impact one in two men and one in three women in their lifetime. It is devastating and it is pervasive. In fact, every year 1.3 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer.

Thankfully, our country has made tremendous progress in this fight and produced remarkable advances in the way we prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. Today, in many cases, we can humbly say that cancer is no longer a death sentence. The medical advances achieved by our nation’s best doctors and researchers have given us reasons to hope

FNC head Roger Ailes will be honored with the 2006 First Ammendment Leadership Award at the Radio-Television News Directors Association’s awards dinner. Broadcasting & Cable’s John Eggerton has more…

Ailes joins a list of past honorees that include Ted Turner, founder of FNC rival CNN; Don Hewitt of CBS; and Katharine Graham of The Washington Post.

UPDATE: Here is the RTNDA release…

WASHINGTON— Two pioneers in cable news and two journalists injured while covering the war in Iraq will be honored by the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation for their work on behalf of press freedom. RTNDF will pay tribute to Roger Ailes of FOX News, Philip Balboni of New England Cable News, Kimberly Dozier of CBS News and Bob Woodruff of ABC News at the 17th Annual First Amendment Awards Dinner on March 8 in Washington.

Ailes, the chairman and CEO of FOX News, will receive the 2006 First Amendment Leadership Award. Since founding the network in 1996, Ailes has made it the ratings leader among cable news channels. Previously, Ailes headed CNBC, the business news channel, from 1993 to 1996, and was president of America’s Talking. A three-time Emmy Award winner and former television producer, Ailes is also chairman of FOX Television Stations.
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Jim Walton’s email to staff on Chris Cramer’s departure from the network…

To: CNN Staff
From: Jim Walton

Today Chris Cramer is announcing his intention to retire from CNN International, effective March 31st. After 11 years with our organization, Chris will be leaving CNNI at the top of his game, with the international business he oversees in the very enviable position of being the most-watched, most-respected and most-copied news network in the world. Chris has built strong teams at CNNI and CNN en Español and I have no doubt that the networks will continue to prosper after he departs. I will be conducting a search for his replacement and am grateful that Chris has given us plenty of time to make sure we find a strong successor.
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CNN International Managing Director Chris Cramer’s email to staff announcing his departure…

In April I will have been at the helm of CNN International for 11 years - and I believe it’s time to retire from the company and look for the next challenge.

2006 was a record year for the international services, record distribution for CNNI and CNN en Español, and record revenues for all of our overseas businesses, including CNNI.com. Each unit is now profitable. It was also a fabulous year for our global journalism with accolades and awards for staff and services alike. Thankfully we also managed to keep our folks safe wherever they were working and led the industry in safety and training for all those who work in the field.

I have had the extraordinary privilege of working with some of the best broadcasters in the world and certainly the best management team in global television. I plan to assist them in the transition before leaving at the end of March.

After that I will take a few months off, get on the Chattahoochee River and improve my sculling technique, and then look for my next career move.
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Here are FNC’s coverage plans for the Iraq address by President Bush tonight…

The President is scheduled to speak to the nation tonight fro 8:55 PM – 10:00 PM ET. As he lays out his plan for Iraq, FOX News’ team of experts will provide thought and insight. Anchoring tonight’s coverage of the speech is Brit Hume. Alongside Brit will be his usual panel of experts including Nina Easton, Fred Barnes, Mort Kondracke and Bill Kristol.

Bob Scales, a military analyst and FOX News’ Chris Wallace will provide insight as well while Bret Baier will report from the White House, Greg Palkot from Baghdad, Mike Emanuel from the Pentagon and Major Garrett from Capitol Hill.

FOX News Channel’s Shepard Smith will be anchoring the coverage of tonight’s Presidential speech on FOX Broadcast.

Following up on this item from last month, here is the latest addition to the FNC team…Ainsley Earhardt. Ainsley comes from KENS TV in San Antonio. Ainsley will be an overnight news anchor.

CNN announced this morning that Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be anchoring an hour long special on Cancer for CNN’s radio affiliates on Thursday, Jan 11th…

In a powerful hour of informative and inspirational conversation for CNN Radio, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta discusses one disease that touches everyone in some way: cancer. “Saving Your Life” will be available to affiliates on Thursday, Jan. 11.

A featured guest of the program will be Tour de France champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong, who won the premiere cycling race seven times after beating testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs. The program also features cancer treatment experts and other cancer survivors. “Saving Your Life” will be produced by CNN Radio supervising producer Sherri Maksin.
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CNBC announced yesterday the 3rd Annual Executive Leadership Awards…

The 3rd annual CNBC Executive Leadership Awards will take place at The Pierre Hotel in New York City. For the first time, it will be taped and air on CNBC on Monday, February 5th at 9PM & 12AM ET.

It will re-air on Sunday 2/11 at 10PM/1AM ET.

I wasn’t going to do any New Year’s Resolutions this year but I’ve decided to do one after all…

ICN resolves, on behalf of the cable news networks in absentia, to not use countdown clocks for a whole year. They’re mostly used as a gimmick and do not really amplify the news or help in our understanding of the news. They do however add another layer of graphical clutter to an already oversaturated TV screen…

Well, ok…resolutions are made to be broken…as this one has already by CNN and MSNBC. CNN has got a clock running for the first 100 hours of Congress and MSNBC has one going today counting down the hours until President Bush’s address hits the air. We already know that Congress is using fuzzy math to calculate their 100 hours (which is spread out over weeks) so a countdown clock is rather meaningless. And we all know Bush is speaking at 9pm so a countdown clock is redundant.

Soledad O’Brien will receive the President’s Award at the NAACP Image Awards on March 2nd according to this blurb.

In addition to the other nominees, the highest honor of the evening for the NAACP Image awards is the President’s Award. This year, the recipient of that award will be Soledad O’Brien, co-anchor of CNN’s “American Morning.” President and CEO Bruce S. Gordon made the announcement Tuesday, January 9.

The prestigious award, given in recognition of special achievement and distinguished public service, will be presented on Friday, March 2 during a live broadcast (8 p.m. ET/PT) of the 38th Image Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

“We are delighted to recognize Soledad O’Brien and her achievements with this honor,” said Gordon. “She is being recognized for her humanitarian efforts and journalistic excellence. She is also an intelligent, highly educated, powerful role model for all young women. She has been an inspiration to her viewers and colleagues through her welcoming smile, genuine concern for people and her consummate professionalism.”

The Orlando Sentinel’s Hal Boedeker writes about Jim Walton defending Nancy Grace’s integrity at the TCA…

CNN defended Nancy Grace’s integrity Tuesday as the cable-news giant unveiled plans to celebrate Larry King’s 50 years in broadcasting.

“The CNN brand stands for integrity, accuracy, class, timeliness,” Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide, told television critics.

One critic asked whether Grace, who hosts a show on CNN Headline News, exemplified those qualities.

“Absolutely,” Walton said. “I am not judge and jury, nor am I the morals police. One of the responsibilities of CNN is to be unbiased and present multiple perspectives and points of view. We feel in this case we’re doing that.”

Grace became embroiled in controversy last year for her tough questioning of Melinda Duckett, mother of missing Trenton Duckett

Lou Dobbs was scheduled to appear at the TCA yesterday in a panel discussion with Jonathan Klein but didn’t show up. Dobbs was listed in the schedule that the TCA handed out to the press. I missed Lou Dobbs Tonight last night. Was he on?

UPDATE: The Houston Chronicle’s Mike McDaniel notes Dobbs appearance, or lack thereof…

Larry King, 77, says that since his heart problems and subsequent weight loss, people have told him he looks 10 years younger. Wonder if they’ll still think that when CNN offers itself in high definition this fall.

That’s a snotty way to start reporting from the winter gathering of the Television Critics Association, but so be it. We got off on the wrong foot after learning that Lou Dobbs wouldn’t be here. He was scheduled by CNN to be the first person to meet the press. But CNN now says a “scheduling conflict” prevented Dobbs from showing up. Hmmm.

David Kronke in The San Bernadino Sun writes about Larry King and Glenn Becks appearance at the TCA…

The Television Critics Association’s semiannual press tour kicked off in Pasadena Tuesday with CNN trotting out its most venerable institution and its most recent controversial firebrand.

Larry King was on hand to reflect upon his lengthy career and promote a late-April “King-Size Week” on CNN, while CNN Headline News’ Glenn Beck tried to prove he’s not the contentiously reactionary guy who said to incoming Minnesota congressman and practicing Muslim Keith Ellison, “What I feel like saying is, ‘Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.’ ”