Johnny Dollar has the audio from the John Gibson radio program where Gibson opines on Dan Abrams…

The Steve Murphy/FBN item turned out to be bogus and he’s not coming to FBN. So it was pulled.

Cable News Daily Ratings for October 8, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 737,000 viewers
CNN – 444,000 viewers
MSNBC – 253,000 viewers
CNBC – 198,000 viewers
HLN – 201,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 1,370,000 viewers
CNN – 574,000 viewers
MSNBC – 403,000 viewers
CNBC – 169,000 viewers
HLN – 358,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 201,000 viewers
CNN – 168,000 viewers
MSNBC – 107,000 viewers
CNBC – a scratch with 51,000 viewers
HLN- 88,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 372,000 viewers
CNN – 179,000 viewers
MSNBC – 160,000 viewers
CNBC – 54,000 viewers
HLN – 133,000 viewers

Morning programs P2+ (25-54)
FOX & Friends – 794,000 viewers (277,000)
American Morning- 407,000 viewers (196,000)
Morning Joe – 217,000 viewers (90,000)
Robin & Co. – 173,000 viewers (92,000)
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CNBC issued a follow up release to last month’s note on its October 9th ‘87 crash special…

In the 1980’s the markets were soaring and the place everyone wanted to be was Wall Street. An unprecedented five-year bull market with no end in sight and then came…October 19, 1987.

On Monday, October 15th at 9PM ET, CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, presents “October ‘87: Crash & Comeback.” The documentary examines the biggest stock market crash in the nation’s history told by the people who were there: the traders, the reporters who covered the crash, and the power brokers including Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve in 1987, John Phelan, former Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and Leo Melamed, legendary trader and former head of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

“Black Monday didn’t just change how the markets did business, but also impacted the way investors watched their bottom line,” said Josh Howard, Vice President Long Form & Special Programming, CNBC. “‘October ‘87: Crash & Comeback’ provides the untold story of the biggest stock market crash in history and shows viewers not only the improvements made over the last 20-years, but also how Wall Street and business news became front and center.”
(more…)

FBN announced that Carly Fiorina has joined the network as a contributor…

American business leader and former Fortune 20 CEO Carly Fiorina has joined FOX Business Network (FBN) as a contributor, announced Kevin Magee, Executive Vice President, FOX News.

In making the announcement, Magee said, “Carly Fiorina is one of the foremost business leaders of our time. We are proud to have her join FBN as a contributor.”

Fiorina added, “I am pleased to have the opportunity to continue to speak out on issues of vital concern to our economy and our nation.”

Fiorina served as the Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Company from 1999 to 2005. Under her leadership, Hewlett-Packard doubled in revenue to over $80 Billion, achieved the highest rate of innovation in company history, and secured leadership positions in every product line and market segment. She also led the successful $25 Billion merger with Compaq Computers, widely credited with turning Hewlett-Packard into the largest technology company in the world today. Fiorina is the first and, to date, only woman to lead a Fortune 20 company.
(more…)

GretaWire blogs (with video) about the times On the Record has to to do the old studio two-step and move to another location for a night…

On rare occasions our show gets tossed out of our usual DC studio (some other show needs it for a special or something like that) and we move down the hall to another studio. Once in the other studio, we must improvise….try to make it work for us…here is a short behind the video of our team improvising:

CNN announced that it will debut a new song from R.E.M. on Anderson Cooper 360 Wednesday, October 10th in conjunction with the runup to the premiere of Planet In Peril…

“Until the Day Is Done”, the new song from R.E.M., will debut on Anderson Cooper 360° on Wednesday, Oct. 10, in advance of their widely anticipated forthcoming album due for release next spring. The song will be matched to clips from CNN’s Planet in Peril, which features footage from areas around the world where environmental crises are not a theory but are happening in real time, and will play over the documentary’s closing credits.

Coinciding with its debut on Anderson Cooper 360°, the video trailer will be available at the Planet in Peril section of CNN.com at www.CNN.com/PlanetinPeril. The four-hour documentary airs in two parts on Tuesday, Oct. 23, and Wednesday, Oct. 24, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. (ET/PT) and will air worldwide on CNN International in more than 200 countries and territories.
(more…)

ICN has learned that FBN is expected to announce this afternoon that Carly Fiorina is expected to join the network.

Big Head D.C. beats up Dan Abrams for his FNC attack last night…

Now, he has decided to defend Chris “I swear I’m not partisan yet I attack the GOP during a boring book party last week” Matthews on the eve of the destined-to-be low rated GOP debate that Matthews is co-moderating in Michigan today. How does he defend Matthews? By going after Brit Hume, FNC Washington Managing Editor and host of Special Report with Brit Hume during his “Beat the Press” segment last night.

Seriously? One more time… Seriously? Hume has moderated two debates so far this election cycle, and received bi-partisan praise for both, including the recent GOP debate on September 5. Hume is also not new to this gig — having worked for ABC for 23 years, serving as their Chief White House Correspondent, winning an Emmy Award for his coverage of the Gulf War, and serving on the panel for Vice Presidential debates while at ABC. Ask anyone in the business, and you’ll hear that Hume is respected among his colleagues

Fox Business Network hasn’t even launched yet and there’s already a Yahoo Fan Group dedicated to the Women of FBN…(via TVNewser)

Anderson Cooper is on The View today previewing Planet in Peril…

Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici blogs about CNN’s Planet in Peril and what Time Warner’s Carbon Neutral stance is…

So: No carbon-neutral pledge just yet, but a pretty good start. And CNN’s doing even better: David Doss, senior executive producer of Anderson Cooper 360, told me that Planet in Peril was conceived as a carbon-neutral production — a major proposition, considering all the air travel necessary to achieve the doc’s globe-spanning scope. “We’ve already done the buybacks,” he says.

Johnny Dollar has the video from this morning’s Fox and Friends where the FnF gang responded to Dan Abrams attack on FNC last night…

This morning on Monrning Joe, John Harwood addressed the Matthews incident leading up to tonight’s debate…(via FishbowlDC)

Mika Brzezinski: With Chris Matthews as the host and the recent controversy about his comments about criminality in the Bush Administration, do you think this will be awkward? Will anyone take him to task for that?

John Harwood: I think that’s a question, you know? you could see a republican decide to take a shot at Chris and try to appeal to Republicans in that way. but, you know, they have got to calculate what’s the benefit of doing that and, you know, do I look bad if I do that? But that’s one of the dynamics in the backdrop here. I haven’t heard a lot of talk from Republicans. you know, there was some editorial traffic over the weekend, some blog traffic about that issue. I haven’t heard a lot of it up here in Dearborn, actually.

TVWeek’s James Hibberd blogs about the latest in a series of problems that has beset Nielsen and its increasingly maligned ratings system…

Phone calls were flying to Nielsen late Friday about the measurement company’s plan to issue network performance data this week comparing the start of the season last year (Sept. 18) to its start this year (Sept. 24). What’s wrong with that? Well, about a week, which at some point needs to be folded into the comparisons or you end up with an extra week at the end of the year. Two weeks into the season that’s fine, but once the low-rated holiday periods kick in, things get screwy for measuring how shows performed versus the same week last year. Come Thanksgiving, the ratings are no longer a cranberries-to-cranberries comparison. More to the point for networks: The early fall season story is sunnier for ABC under Nielsen’s current measurement, but would benefit Fox’s seasonal comparisons if the extra week were factored in now. The flap follows a scuffle over NBC’s use of a new Nielsen rule that allowed the network to issue a single rating for two airings of its “Heroes” premiere.

Cable News Ratings October 6, 2007

P2+ Total Day
FNC – 542,000 viewers
CNN – 396,000 viewers
MSNBC – 266,000 viewers
CNBC – 162,000 viewers
HLN – 211,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 711,000 viewers
CNN – 536,000 viewers
MSNBC – 291,000 viewers
CNBC – 239,000 viewers
HLN – 217,000 viewers

25-54 Total Day
FNC – 161,000 viewers
CNN – 137,000 viewers
MSNBC – 125,000 viewers
CNBC – 66,000 viewers
HLN – 83,000 viewers

25-54 Prime Time
FNC – 160,000 viewers
CNN – 204,000 viewers
MSNBC – 153,000 viewers
CNBC – 89,000 viewers
HLN – 85,000 viewers

Cable News Ratings for October 7, 2007
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Journal-isms has a rundown of Geraldo Rivera’s comments at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists awards ceremony…

First came celebrity journalist Geraldo Rivera of Fox News, taking the stage at an awards banquet for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists to decry a CNN program. He said it used images of immigrants to accompany a story about an increase in violent urban crime. “There is no such link!” Rivera exclaimed.

“We are Terri Schiavo. We are gay marriage. We are the wedge issue for this election,” Rivera warned his mostly Latino audience. In this campaign season, some “will do whatever they can to gain political advantage on the backs of people who look like us. Crunch time is coming. . . . Have the courage to stand up,” he said.

It was similar to a message Rivera gave the same gathering two years ago, when he announced from the stage that he was donating $80,000 to NAHJ and $20,000 to Unity: Journalists of Color, the largest gift to NAHJ by an individual, then-president Veronica Villafañe said at the time.

“Bust them on their hypocrisy,” Rivera said then, speaking of those in newsrooms who deride illegal immigrants. “In vast sections of the country, there would not be a lawn mowed or a dish washed but for illegal immigrants.”

Quo Vadimus’ Scott Warheit posted the video of Chris Matthews’ appearance on this morning’s Morning Joe talking about tonight’s debate and his position as moderator…

The New York Observer’s Nicole Dweck writes about a CNN “Planet in Peril” Party. (supposedly they’re advance screening the doc in cities around in the country, including my stomping grounds)

Last night, several hundred of New York’s most fashionably eco-aware gathered at the Museum of Natural History for a screening of CNN’s “Planet In Peril,” a two-part documentary reported by Anderson Cooper , Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Jeff Corwin, set to air on October 23rd and October 24th.

The guest list read like the seating chart at Michael’s, and of them at least Larry King, Arianna Huffington (sans crutches) and CNN president Jonathan Klein were visible in the well-dressed crowd.

The chicken and beef skewers were proof that this was no Earth Day rally; and for the generous forestation of the crowd with model-like six-foot waifs, grilled veggies and spinach tartines did the trick.

The Caucus’ Jim Rutenberg looks at debate ratings…

But how many people watch these debates anyway? Ratings show that the total is more than usually watch a cable television program and considerably more than the number tuned in around this point in the 2004 race.

But it is also far fewer than tune into the average network sitcom, and less than might be expected in a race in which both the Republican and Democratic nominations are up for grabs.

The most-watched debate so far was the Republican event in Durham, N.H., on Sept. 5, which drew an audience of 3.1 million to Fox News Channel, according to Nielsen data. At this point in 2003, a Democratic debate on CNN drew a record audience of 1.8 million.

Over all, the audiences for the major televised debates this year have ranged from less than a million to fewer than three million people.

During last night’s Beat the Press segment Dan Abrams responded to the Chris Matthews incident and FNC’s highlighting of same…(transcript via NewsBusters)

Update: Video…

DAN ABRAMS: Time for tonight’s “Beat the Press,” our daily look back at the absurd and sometimes amusing perils of live TV. First up, the attack team over at Fox News is trying to get some traction out of comments Chris Matthews made at the Hardball 10th anniversary party last week. He made reference to this administration, quote, “finally getting caught in their criminality.” He was talking about Cheney aide Scooter Libby’s conviction. Now, in a silly and obvious partisan attack, they’re suggesting Matthews shouldn’t host the Republican debate.

BILL O’REILLY, from “The O’Reilly Factor”: Now for the top story tonight, for the first time ever, a political party may have a network news organization in its pocket.

ABRAMS: First time ever. The Republicans have had Fox News, and O’Reilly in particular, in their pocket on the Republican talking points since 1996. It seems Fox is very proud of their debate moderators.
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The Detroit Free Press’ Julie Hinds previews tonight’s debate and interviews Chris Matthews…

“I always like to ask questions I figure everybody else wants to ask,” said Matthews, who’s co-moderating the debate with CNBC’s Mario Bartiromo.

The perfect question? The one where viewers hear it and immediately say, “Yeah, that’s what I want to know,” according to Matthews.

The loud and politics-loving host of MSNBC’s “Hardball” says topics covered could range from taxes, trade and energy to the auto industry and the future of pension and health-care plans.

“We have some heavy lifting to do,” he said, referring to the debate’s economic theme. “We have to focus on the important bread-and-butter issues.”

Investors Business Daily questions why Chris Matthews is co-moderating tonight’s debate…

On Tuesday night, 2008 GOP presidential wannabes submit to a second debate moderated by leftist media icon Chris Matthews. We wonder why, because at the first Matthews-moderated debate at the Reagan library in May they were insulted with such Oprah-esque questions as, “What do you dislike most about America?” The correct answer should have been, “Biased reporters asking stupid questions.”

Matthews has provided Republicans with a golden opportunity to confront that bias as evidenced by his recent despicable remarks and the unrelenting campaign of hostility and character assassination waged by NBC and its affiliated networks.

They should ask what Matthews, who has worked for four Democratic politicians, including President Carter, disliked so much about America when he wrote Carter’s infamous 1979 “malaise” speech in which the American people were blamed for a collapsing economy and Soviet expansionism.