Sunday, November 14, 2004

What The Hell Am I Watching?

Since I moved to the Geezer Capital of Texas, I have been watching MSNBC on my local cable system. Thanks to "Imus in the Morning," I have been watching MSNBC over CNN and Faux News. Of course, there is CNBC (Consumer News and Business Channel), but I haven't watched CNBC in years. CNBC launched in 1989 and does not attempt to compete with CNN and Faux News. I don't know if any media source is trustworthy, but I watch Imus and his cast of nutcases regularly. If this is (fair & balanced) gullibility, so be it.


[x Wikipedia]

MSNBC (Microsoft & National Broadcasting Company) is a 24-hour news channel in the United States. It is available in over 76 million households in the U.S. and broadcasts primarily out of its studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Launched on July 15, 1996 to 22 million subscribers, MSNBC is currently America's third-most-watched cable news channel, after FOX News Channel and CNN, and ahead of CNN Headline News.

MSNBC was founded by Microsoft and General Electric, which owns NBC Universal. Today, both companies share control of the company.

MSNBC.com, the cable channel's affiliated website is currently in a fierce battle with CNN.com for the honour of top online US news site.

The site is produced out of newsrooms in Redmond, Washington and Secaucus, New Jersey.

MSNBC.com consists of news and features from MSNBC, MSNBC.com, NBC News, the Washington Post and Newsweek magazine, among others. MSNBC.com is the news provider for MSN, the portal site and online service operated by Microsoft. MSNBC.com hosts show websites for NBC News shows such as Dateline NBC, Today, and NBC Nightly News.

MSNBC.com launched a massive overhaul in December 2003.

MSNBC TV is segmented in to three distinct programming segments: daytime, primetime and weekend.

Daytime programming consists primarily of traditional newscasts and breaking news. From 9am-4pm ET, a cast of rotating anchors host "MSNBC Live," featuring the latest on the day's news, live coverage, breaking news and special features. Anchors include Sam Shane, Laurie Jennings, Amy Robach, Randy Meier, Contessa Brewer, Alex Witt and Allison Stewart with weather by Sean McLaughlin.

Imus in the Morning is a simulcast of popular New York City disc jockey Don Imus's show from WFAN radio. The program airs from 6-9am ET.

Lester Holt Live is a slightly harder-edged newscast and airs each weekday from 4-6pm.

Primetime begins at 6pm with The Abrams Report, hosted by NBC Chief Legal Correspondent Dan Abrams. The show focuses on the top legal stories of the day.

At 7pm, Hardball With Chris Matthews airs, with political reporter and author Chris Matthews. Hardball is MSNBC's top rated program, and serves up the top political news of the day.

Countdown with Keith Olbermann is a sometimes irreverent look at the day's top news, cablecast each weekday at 8pm ET. Hosted by former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Keith Olbermann, Countdown is styled like a radio music countdown -- starting with the day's #5 story, and progressing to number one. The higher the story number, the more buzz it is expected to get around the watercooler.

Deborah Norville Tonight with former Today show anchor Deborah Norville is an interview program airing each weekday at 9pm, featuring the day's newsmakers.

Scarborough Country with former Florida representative Joe Scarborough airs at 10pm Sunday-Thursday, and focuses on political, social and religious issues.

Weekends consist of limited live programming. A news block Saturday and Sunday morning is hosted by Alex Witt and includes a segment called Economy Watch. From noon ET on, the network features series such as MSNBC Investigates, Headliners & Legends with Matt Lauer and National Geographic Ultimate Explorer with Lisa Ling. Brief news cut-ins are delivered at the bottom of each hour.

Past MSNBC shows featured hosts such as Soledad O'Brien, Jesse Ventura, Ann Curry, Lawrence O'Donnell, Phil Donahue, Alan Keyes, Pat Buchanan, Bill Press, Jerry Nachman, Ashleigh Banfield, Stone Phillips, Brian Williams, John Hockenberry, John McLaughlin, Curtis Sliwa, Ron Kuby, Mitch Albom, Michael Savage, Bill Moyers, Andrea Mitchell, Mike Barnicle, John Gibson, Frank Luntz, Laurie Dhue, Jane Pauley, Lawrence O'Donnel, and a number of others.

MSNBC is also available on XM Satellite Radio.

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