Nightly Business Report

Format

The daily program consists of reports on the changes in the stock market, indices, and stocks of note for the day, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, NASDAQ, the S&P 500, and other major markets, as well as interviews with important business persons, generally CEOs of major companies as well as economists, market analysts and policy makers.

Special programs on market holidays depart from this format, and often deal with a single subject or theme; New Year's Day and Independence Day editions tend to focus on retrospectives and predictions for the past and coming fiscal periods. The program often concludes with a commentary. Segments within the program include Market Monitor, Street Critique, Women in Leadership, and Planet Forward to name a few. There was a 15-minute morning version of NBR called Morning Business Report during the mid-1990s.

Personalities

History

The idea for a business news program had come from several businessmen on the WPBT Board. Linda O'Bryon, who was WPBT's News Director at the time, headed the effort to get NBR on the air. In the fall of 1978, she was approached by senior management and asked to create a daily business news program. She developed the program concept and expanded the editorial staff to launch NBR. Paul Kangas was among the first to join, signing on as its stock market commentator. Kangas always signed off each broadcast using his trademark phrase, "I'm Paul Kangas, wishing all of you the best of good buys!" (a pun on "the best of goodbyes") O'Bryon and Merwin Sigale were the first co-anchors. The editorial/production team that launched the program included WPBT veterans Rodney Ward, Bruce Eibe and Jeff Huff, and Jack Kahn, who was the program's first producer.

Starting in January 22, 1979, NBR launched on 125 public stations around the country. The first regular commentator on the program was Alan Greenspan, then a private economist, who remained as an NBR commentator until his appointment as Fed chief in 1987. A number of public television stations supplemented the program's newsgathering efforts by serving as "bureaus" for the program.

In 1989, Jim Wicks was named co-anchor, and moved from the flagship station of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto where he was main anchor. At the end of his contract, Wicks moved to ABC News in Cleveland. He has since left the television news business and returned to his motion picture career where he got his start. He works in post-production as a film colorist.

In 1998, financial journalist Susie Gharib joined the anchor desk with Paul Kangas. Gharib anchors from the heart of New York's financial district, while Kangas remained at the program's production center in Miami.

For most of its run on PBS, the program received funding from: PBS stations and its viewers, Franklin Templeton Investments (and its former entity, The Franklin Group of Funds/Franklin Distributors, Inc.), A.G. Edwards, Digital Equipment Corporation, COMPAQ, Pacific Telesis Group, Dean Witter Reynolds and Kidder Peabody. During the 1990s, NBR was also co-produced by Reuters, and later its subsidiary, Bridge Information Systems.

NBR is also seen internationally through Worldnet, the U.S. Radio and Television Armed Services network and on SBS in Australia and Triangle Television in New Zealand. Audio of the program airs on Sirius XM satellite radio at 7pm ET. NBR operates three reporting bureaus with full-time staff members as well as bureaus in Denver, Silicon Valley, and Phoenix operated in partnership with the public television stations in those markets.

Over the years, NBR has received numerous awards. In 2005, for extended coverage of China's emergence as an international economic power, and in 2006 the website was honored with a took the helm from Linda O’Bryon in 2006, serving as executive editor and senior vice president through 2011. O'Bryon is currently President and CEO of South Carolina ETV.

Paul Kangas's last broadcast for Nightly Business Report was on December 31, 2009, ending a 30-year run. The following week, on January 4, 2010, Tom Hudson took over as NBR's anchor, broadcasting from Miami and reporting on topics such as Federal Reserve interest rate policy, corporate governance and shareholder activism as well as providing insights to daily market activity. Prior to co-anchoring Nightly Business Report, he was host and managing editor of the nationally syndicated financial television program First Business. In July 2011, Tom was named Managing Editor and Co-anchor, a newly combined position with both editorial and managerial responsibility.

In August 2010, it was announced that WPBT-TV had sold the show to NBR Worldwide Inc., a newly formed privately held company headed by Mykalai Kontilai who became the majority owner of the program. Kontilai, an entrepreneur in the Instructional Television Distribution (ITV) industry. Gary Ferrell, a former president and chief executive of North Texas Public Broadcasting (parent company of KERA-TV in Dallas, Texas), is the company's CFO. The sale was first proposed in February. According to WPBT, the station will continue to be associated with the show as a presenting station, and the sale reflects their assessment that NBR Worldwide Inc. has "the ideas and resources and potential to take it to the next level" and "can do more things with it than WPBT could." Rick Schneider, president and CEO of WPBT, said the staff and editorial team won't change and "Nobody loses their job as a result of this." Until the name changed, the program was carried under the "Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc." banner and produced by NBR Enterprises, Inc./WPBT Miami.

Schneider's promises proved short-lived. In November 2010, NBR Worldwide Inc. announced a restructuring of the Nightly Business Report staff. That restructuring resulted in job cuts for four on-air contributors, half the reporting staff, including Scott Gurvey (NY bureau chief), Stephanie Dhue (Washington), Jeff Yastine (Miami) and Jamila Trindle (Washington), in addition to founding producer Jack Kahn and three other behind-the-scenes personnel.

On November 16, 2010, NBR Worldwide Inc. announced the promotions of Rodney Ward from Executive Editor to Executive VP of Special Projects. Ward's former executive editor duties were assumed by managing editor Wendie Feinberg, who was also promoted to VP/Managing Editor. Those changes also didn't last long. On July 11, 2011, following the decision of PBS to drop the broadcast from its national schedule and cut all funding, NBR Worldwide Inc. announced the departures of Rodney Ward as Executive VP of Special Projects, and Wendie Feinberg, as VP/Managing Editor. In a press release, NBR Worldwide said the moves were "...part of its ongoing efforts to streamline operations and maximize resources." CEO Mykalai Kontilai said Miami-based anchor Tom Hudson would assume the role and title of Managing Editor, in addition to his current on-air duties.

In November 2011, Rick Ray succeeded Kontilai as CEO after Kontilai sold the company to Atalaya Capital Management, a private equity firm based out of NYC. Ray is now CEO of NBR Worldwide Inc. and the executive producer of NBR. Gary Ferrell also departed the company at this time. Several additional members of the editorial staff were also fired.

In December 2012, Atalaya fired another seven NBR editorial employees, including Chicago Bureau Chief Diane Eastabrook. The program also announced the complete closing of its Chicago bureau, leaving it with staff reporters only in New York and Washington, D.C. Of the terminated employees, NBR Managing Editor Tom Hudson said, "I consider it an honor to call them colleagues."

On March 1, 2013, NBR aired its final broadcast under the production of WPBT. Effective March 4, 2013, CNBC would produce NBR. As a result, anchor Tom Hudson and many other correspondents were laid off, and the show's Miami studios were shut down as well. CNBC's Tyler Mathisen replaced Hudson, and anchored alongside Susie Gharib from CNBC headquarters in New York. As previously mentioned, Gharib left NBR at the end of 2014 and was replaced with Sue Herera, who was previously Mathisen's co-anchor on CNBC's Power Lunch.

Title cards and theme music

The themes and bumper music that were used from January 22, 1979 to January 1, 1988 were composed by Edd Kalehoff, also known for themes on other television series and game shows. The longest-running theme, also composed by Kalehoff, was used from January 4, 1988 to November 15, 2002. Along with an update to the graphics and presentation, the theme was updated on November 18, 2002 and was used until January 1, 2010. A new theme, logo, and set for the show's Miami headquarters debuted on January 4, 2010. This theme lasted until April 27, 2012. On April 30, 2012, a new virtual theme was introduced to the show with new graphics and music. On March 4, 2013, another new set of graphics was introduced, yet the theme music remained the same. On January 4, 2016, the graphics were changed again; this time they are modeled after CNBC's current graphics package (which itself has been used since October 2014).

Ratings

Ratings continue to change, as the series airs every weeknight on public television's WORLD channel as well as on local public television stations' primary channels.