Genre News program
Talk show Original language(s) English Camera setup Multi-camera | Country of origin United States Location(s) New York City | |
Presented by Anchors:
Heather Childers
Anchor:
Kelly Wright
Jackie Ibanez
Patricia Stark
Weather anchor:
Janice Dean
Business anchor:
Lauren Simonetti | ||
Fox & Friends First is a morning television news program on Fox News Channel. The hour-long program leads in to the network's main three-hour morning block Fox & Friends, with some of its hosts appearing regularly as anchors and contributors on the weekday or weekend editions of Fox & Friends. The current incarnation of the show debuted on March 5, 2012.
Contents
Format
Fox & Friends First is hosted by Heather Childers Other occasional guest hosts include Julie Banderas, Clayton Morris, Arthel Neville, and Jamie Colby.
The show is broadcast from Studio J, the same studio used for America's Newsroom, The Real Story, The Kelly File, and Hannity. Various weekend programs also use the studio.
The show is early-morning opinion talk show along with the latest headlines and news of the morning. Due to the nature and time of the show, guests regularly appear, so it focuses more on updates of news stories with correspondents, analysis from the hosts, and politics.
When Fox and Friends First launched in March 2012 the show's executive producer, Lauren Petterson, described the show to Fox News Insider this way: "Think of Fox and Friends First like Fox and Friends on steroids. It will include all of the things you love about Fox and Friends – at warp speed. A cheat sheet, if you will, to all the day's big stories…"
History
In 2001, Fox & Friends, which aired from 7 to 9 a.m. ET, was expanded by an hour to start at 6 a.m. The new hour was branded Fox & Friends First and was co-anchored by Alisyn Camerota. In July 2008, the 6 a.m. hour was replaced by a third hour of Fox & Friends, and Camerota was named permanent anchor of the weekend edition of Fox & Friends.
In June 2011, rival cable news channel CNN began programming in the 5 a.m. hour, with a one-hour extension of American Morning titled Wake Up Call, which was replaced in January 2012 following American Morning's cancellation by the two-hour Early Start. MSNBC already had started its news programming at that hour with two half-hour shows: First Look, a general news program which had aired since the mid-2000s, and Way Too Early with Willie Geist (which leads into Morning Joe), which debuted in July 2009. In March 2012, Fox News confirmed that it was expanding its morning programming to begin at 5 a.m. The new one-hour show was named Fox & Friends First and serves as a lead-in to Fox & Friends. It debuted on March 5, 2012.
In its first week on the air, Fox & Friends First averaged more total viewers than other programs at CNN and MSNBC in the same time slot combined.