After leaving the House of Representatives in 2001, he joined MSNBC in 2003 and served up conservative outrage in prime time for MSNBC for four years before moving to the morning. Scarborough’s own political leanings were known to the audience as he came to MSNBC after a career in Congress, where he was elected as part of the Republican Revolution in 1994. (The trio is the longest-running morning show team on national TV, while the program’s executive producer Alex Korson - now vice president of morning programming for MSNBC - has been at the helm since 2011 when he replaced Chris Licht, the recently named president of CNN.) Scarborough says he doesn’t even know how Geist has voted in presidential elections since they have worked together. “Morning Joe” largely manages to stay in a neutral zone. Networks increasingly cater to polarized political tribes, with MSNBC the campground for progressives and Republican anti-Trumpers and Fox News the leading platform for conservatives. Licht will take over the news organization in May after Discovery completes its acquisition of CNN parent WarnerMedia.Ĭable news has changed since “Morning Joe” was launched almost by accident in 2007 - the program replaced a popular simulcast of Don Imus’ radio program after he was ousted for making racist remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team. Nielsen data shows the “Morning Joe” audience is more upscale than the competition as 30% of the homes watching earn more than $125,000 a year, compared with 29% for CNN’s “New Day” and 27% for “Fox & Friends.” “Morning Joe” also has the most Black viewers of any cable program in its time period.Ĭompany Town New CNN boss Chris Licht is known as ‘Captain Intense’ (Former President Donald Trump offered real-time critiques on Twitter when he was in the White House). The program shows up on screens at the congressional gym and on government jets. ![]() But Scarborough, Brzezinski and Geist know from texts and phone calls they receive after every show that influential people, especially in Washington, watch regularly. ![]() “Morning Joe” doesn’t have the largest cable news audience in the morning - it trails in second place behind Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” and recently slipped behind CNN’s “New Day” to third place in the 25-to-54 age group favored by advertisers after finishing second in 2021. “It doesn’t solve their prime-time problem, but at least it gives the people who have been the core MSNBC audience for the last decade a reason to start their day with the network.” “If you watch ‘Morning Joe’ you are more likely to keep the channel on MSNBC all day long,” Whitaker says. Mark Whitaker, a veteran journalist and former executive at CNN and MSNBC, believes an extended “Morning Joe” will help the network hold on to its habitual viewers as management tries to address its larger challenges. “It will be more produced in the respect of going away from our roundtables and opinion.” “We’ll probably get more news content in as far as the number of stories go,” he says. Scarborough, 58, says the team will consider the new audience getting its first take on the day when they present the additional hour. “It’s a great chance to introduce ourselves to people who don’t get up at 3 o’clock in the morning to watch us,” Scarborough says. as they get on their treadmills or stationary bikes before their commutes. ![]() One of their aims is to capture more West Coast viewers at 6 a.m. “It was all very concerning to us,” Scarborough adds.īut the trio is not about to judge their early-rising (or perhaps sleep-deprived) fans on the West Coast, as the “Morning Joe” adds a fourth hour starting Monday. “They say, ‘I live in San Diego’ or ‘I live in L.A.’ and a lot of them watch live, which raises all kinds of questions about their personal lives,” he says in a recent Zoom interview along with his on-air partners. Geist, 46, always asks the viewers about their hometowns. Ever since MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” became a cable news breakfast staple nearly 15 year ago, its three hosts Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist have gotten stopped by viewers who offer thoughts about the three-hour show, which airs live across the country starting at 6 a.m.
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