OLD Media Moves

Why Cavuto is unscripted on Fox Business

October 17, 2017

Posted by Chris Roush

Neil_CavutoBrian Steinberg of Variety interviewed Fox Business Network anchor Neil Cavuto about his show and his on-air style.

Steinberg writes, “‘We have a good shot at connecting with brokers and bankers, and I love them, but going to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange is not what it was one, two, three decades ago. It was jam-packed. It’s tumbleweeds by comparison,’ notes Cavuto, who also serves as a supervisor of business coverage across Fox News and Fox Business. He wants to keep the financial audience while attracting people who are not heavily invested in the stock market – if at all. ‘I don’t think the business audience needs to be just business people,’ he says. ‘If you get into issues like real estate, the cost of college, what’s going on in Washington – far more people pay taxes than own stocks.’

“In the past, Cavuto recalls, on-air colleagues might call a financial professional after a TV appearance to see if they sounded smart. ‘I would call my wife,’ he says. ‘I felt I would much rather connect with her.’

“Cavuto does much of his Fox Business show on the fly. ‘Neil is unscripted,’ says Ralph Giordano, executive producer of ‘Coast to Coast.’ ‘Every time you write something up, it’s immediately old. News always changes.’ The approach leaves the host and staff free to veer quickly to breaking details and forces Cavuto to rely on his experience. It’s something he says TV-news viewers demand  more of as they get most of their stock quotes and breaking-news headlines on smartphones and mobile screens.”

Read more here.

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