How CNBC is getting retooled

The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz takes a look at how Jonathan Wald and Josh Howard are attempting to remake business news cable channel CNBC to make it hipper in his Monday Media Notes column.

Kurtz wrote, “The two executives are helping to move CNBC, which fixates on stocks and bonds during the day, toward a broader definition of business coverage. And they’re finding it liberating to be freed from having to deliver mass audiences for the broadcast networks.

“‘We don’t have to do a piece on Britney Spears because we need to drag in the 18-to-49-year-olds,’ Howard says. ‘It’s a huge advantage.’

“Since its core mission is to cover Wall Street and corporate America, CNBC’s fate is tied to public interest in the markets. So executives are trying to dream up new programming that will get more people into the cable tent. ‘We’d like everybody who has even a passing interest in business and markets and investment,’ says Mark Hoffman, who took over as CNBC president last year and would face stiff competition if Fox News follows through on plans for a business channel.

“Hoffman wanted the evening lineup to reflect the network’s core identity. CNBC’s prime time has had more than its share of failures, including shows hosted by Dennis Miller and John McEnroe, leaving the channel turning to reruns of Conan O’Brien and ‘The Apprentice’ and looking very much out of gas.”

Read more here.