MSNBC bags new gabbers
Thu Jun 13, 5:55 AM ETBy Craig Offman
NEW YORK (Variety) - In an effort to shore up its schedule for its July 15 revamp -- and displaying an increasing taste for maverick media figures -- MSNBC has hired New York talk-radio veterans Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby to host a noon-to-2 p.m. show on the news cable channel.
Sliwa, a founder of the Guardian Angels, is the conservative counterpart to Kuby, a legal advocate of controversial liberal causes.
Following on the heels of that series comes another point-counterpointer, anchored by isolationist Republican Patrick Buchanan ( news - web sites) and former Jerry Brown aide Bill Press. The CNN "Cross-fire" refugees will resume their on-air squabble until 4 p.m.
Though the lineup seems talk-heavy, MSNBC president Erik Sorenson emphasized the need to have experienced gabbers on the air.
"It's partially a response to the news cycle. We have to figure out how to maintain audience levels when there is no crisis," he said. "So when there's breaking news, there'll be less analysis, and when there's no breaking news, there'll be more analysis."
MSNBC, which recently announced that its editor-in-chief Jerry Nachman will have his own 7 p.m. program, will also feature hourly and half-hour news updates.
Reuters/Variety
In other words, the exact same strategy MSNBC used when it launched six years ago, except this time they're actually using people the public has heard of instead of know-nothing dot-com pseudohipster twentysomethings. It didn't work in 1996; it's not going to work in 2002.