The 40-Year-Old Virgin Executive - Dan Abrams, the new general manager of

[Jon8503]

MSNBC, has no management experience, and had anchored his own daily show
Erik Jacobs/The New York Times

By BILL CARTER
Published: June 26, 2006
If NBC's selection of Dan Abrams, an on-air anchor, as the new day-to-day boss of MSNBC left employees of that all-news cable channel gasping in shock — and it did — the next steps in the reshaping of the long-struggling network are likely to generate at least a few low whistles of surprise.

Mr. Abrams, in an interview at the MSNBC headquarters in Secaucus, N.J., acknowledged that he was still in the learning stages of his new job. At the age of 40, he's taking his first management post in television, where he has worked as a legal analyst and news anchor. While steering away from suggestions that a widespread overhaul of MSNBC is imminent, he did suggest that he would push right away for more breaking news coverage during the channel's daytime hours.

But there are bigger changes coming to MSNBC, especially in prime time, where the network will apparently be dropping some of its talk-show lineup in favor of more taped reports. That change is likely to take place as soon as the next couple of months. "I think we're going to have some program changes this summer," Steve Capus, the president of NBC News, said in a telephone interview. "Prime time is the focus. That's where the money is."

Mr. Capus said he would like the channel to change its identity in ways that would distinguish it from its two chief competitors, the Fox News Channel and CNN.

"All three channels are doing a variation of headline news all day and talk shows at night," Mr. Capus said. "We need to get away from that."

Mr. Capus emphasized that NBC still strongly supported MSNBC, and was not looking for sharp reductions in budgets or staffing. "We think the channel has momentum now. We want to accelerate that."


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/business/media/26msnbc.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=bb5a7429eb4bd81b&hp&ex=1151294400&partner=homepage

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

1. I Wish Him The Best Of Luck. He's A Smart Guy. I Always Liked Him.

Best of luck Dan!

:toast:

[babylonsister]

2. Duh. Ya want momentum? Hire people like KO, you'll get your

momentum. Those taped reports put me to sleep, and 9 times out of 10 are repeats from NBC. Lazy and cheap!

[Cha]

3. I hope that doesn't mean

he's firing Keith..

Snip~

"Q2 '06: MSNBC Beats CNN At 8pm Again
Three months ago, it was big news: In the first quarter of 2006, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann beat CNN's Paula Zahn Now in the 25-54 demo. It was MSNBC's first quarterly primetime victory over CNN in almost five years.

The trend is continuing. MSNBC beat CNN at 8pm in the second quarter of 2006, as well, according to numbers out today. Olbermann averaged 156,000 demo viewers, narrowly beating Zahn's 153,000. MSNBC was up 32 percent from the same quarter last year, while CNN was down 20 percent. Bill O'Reilly averaged 401,000 demo viewers in the quarter, down from 450,000 last quarter and down 14 percent from the same quarter last year."


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1517783

[napi21]

4. Dan's an OK guy. I wish him luck too!

I think I'm dreaming, but I hope he will steer MSNBC to the left in direct opposition to FOX. I think they could be very successful with that strategy!

[LiberalVoice]

5. A fantastic addition.

With him at the helm I very much doubt Olbermann will be going anywhere. Perhaps a different timeslot but def not cancelation. These "news" talk show hosts, instead of reporting the news, actually report their interpretation of the news. Look at fox. Most of it is conservative hosts giving their views on the news. I think this is a great move by Dan Abrams.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. I hope KO has an exit stragegy

this sounds bad

[Jon8503]

7. Page 2 - what they say about Olbermann

Mr. Olbermann, meanwhile, has picked up both viewers and some strong word-of-mouth for his irreverent style. His show is up 36 percent since January in that 25-54 group. MSNBC points out that during the same period, CNN and Fox have been down that those hours.

Of course, a little bump goes a long way at MSNBC, where ratings have been mainly dwarfish over the years, especially next to Fox News. Even with Mr. Olbermann's surge, for example, he draws well less than half of what Bill O'Reilly of Fox does in that age group — and only a fifth of Mr. O'Reilly's total viewer number.

But Mr. Griffin noted that MSNBC's two big shows were going in the right direction now, gaining viewers, while most of those on Fox and CNN were showing declines. CNN especially is a target of opportunity for MSNBC, Mr. Griffin said, because Mr. Olbermann has beaten that network on many nights recently.