Laura Ingraham’s Fox News Show To Debut October 30; ‘Hannity’ Will Take On ‘Maddow’ At 9 PM

Sean Hannity is moving to 9 PM ET to take on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow directly starting next week in anticipation of Fox News Channel debuting Laura Ingraham’s new show on the day before Halloween. Or, to put it another way, the cable news wars just went into full battle mode.

We are delighted to unveil this new primetime schedule for both our current and future generation of loyal FNC fans,” Suzanne Scott, president of programming for the cable newser told Deadline today. “Over the last decade, Laura’s extraordinary insight, expertise and strong voice have connected with our viewers across the network’s programming. We look forward to her providing the audience with her exceptional commentary, engaging insight and spirited debate.”

While Tucker Carlson’s 8 PM show will stay where it is, Hannity will make its move to an hour ahead on September 25. On the same day, The Five will move back to its namesake 5 PM ET slot. Before the radio host and long time Fox News contributor and sometimes stand-in host kicks off The Ingraham Angle on October 30, the 10 PM slot will be filled by various FNC hosts and contributors..

I was going to post a new thread with a new article but I’m a bit lazy.

I listened occasionally to Laura’s radio show in its first iteration and regularly in its second.

The first iteration was, as such shows often are, fearless. Laura may have had friends in high places but she was hilarious and there were no sacred cows. Mocking the usually-bizarre looks of leftists was fair game and, as above, funny.

There was a bit of an interregnum when she was out of contract then she began her current format. By accident or design (probably the latter) she was forced to pull her punches when it came to the rich comedy lode in the form of the ridiculous Obamas. Yes, she wrote books about them but frankly the book was rather tame and, obviously, could not convey the spot-on impressions of Michelle et al that she did. ‘Mother Robinson’ came in for crash-the-car-laughing send-ups. The presence and abhorrent persona of Michelle’s mother living high on the taxpayer hog is still one of the most ridiculously underreported stories of the decade.

Radio, even talk radio, is a tough business if your name is not Rush Limbaugh (and tough even if it is). Laura’s affiliate roster is a crazy quilt of low-power stations and random air times. Many stations air only 2 hours of her 9-12 window; many other stations delay the show until afternoon or evening (!). Even worse, the affiliate list is wildly out of date.

Due to the shoestring nature of the radio operation, we’ve had a few unintentional glimpses into what were supposed to be off-the-air moments. Taped content went out instead of live content, mics cut out, headphones didn’t work, etc. Laura was heard to say ‘We’re going to lose every f*!)@#*& station we have.’ There have been rumors that her revolving-door of producers is due to her temper and unreasonable demands. But admittedly there is a lot of pressure involved.

She is a single mother with three adopted children and the last year especially has seen a shocking number of absences and rather unprofessional tardiness - she has literally phoned the show in from gridlocked DC traffic.

Her de facto co-host Raymond Arroyo is not the answer. He’s got a singsong Mr Rogers cadence and mentions religion on the air more often than Pat Robertson. She loves, apparently, playing off him but he really is a brake on momentum.

The point of all this is that it’s hard to see how she can do the 9-12 radio show in the morning and a 10 pm (even if some segments are taped) show at night given the demands of home life and plain old human needs such as food and sleep. Obviously TV offers much more money and exposure for her books, appearances, etc.

I don’t want the radio show to die but it seems it’s on life support already.

I don’t know how so many on FR can be anti Hannity. I really do not think we would have DT for President if not for his voice out there on radio and television, and also his many town hall meetings.

He trumpets many of the things we believe are important. He calls out the feckless GOPe all the time. Way back during the 08 election and thereafter he consistently called out Obama’s many awful, commie connections. He is often the loudest and lone voice of the major talk show hosts speaking out concerning real Conservative issues. He isn’t perfect, as no one is, but I definitely believe that we should support him. I thank God for him.

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