How business journalists joined the NYSE floor 25 years ago

Bob Zito, a former executive vice president of the New York Stock Exchange, writes for ROI-NJ about how business journalists got on the NYSE floor 25 years ago today after a conversation with CNBC’s Jack Reilly.

Zito writes, “The next step was contacting the business networks.

“The two significant ones in 1995 were CNBC and CNNfn. At the time, CNBC was broadcasting from a perch above the floor of the now-defunct American Stock Exchange.

“‘Jack, here’s the deal,’ I said. ‘The Floor and the chairman have agreed to let a reporter broadcast from the floor before trading begins. It’s a pilot program, but I wanted to check and see if you’d be interested.’

“‘When could we start?’ Reilly asked.

“‘Next week?’ I said.

“The next day, Reilly called me back.

“‘Bob, we want to do it,’ he said. ‘But I need to run something past you. The person we’d like to use is a woman. You probably don’t know her. Her name is Maria Bartiromo.’

“I laughed. I knew her well.”

Read more here.