On July 4, America will have a birthday. But so will America’s Talking.
You know it now as MSNBC, but when Fox News guru Roger Ailes debuted the channel in 1994 with his now-wife Beth Tilson, America’s Talking was the short-lived launching pad for on-air talent like Chris Matthews, Steve Doocy, Mike Jerrick, E. Jean Carroll and Bill McCuddy — who, in an “Apprentice”-style contest, won the job of hosting a daily variety talk show.
Last Saturday night, several dozen of the 277 former employees gathered for a 20th anniversary at Social Bar in Midtown Manhattan.
The all-talk channel blazed trails in online interactivity and viewing audience participation before NBC dumped it to give Microsoft a content platform.
“It was like television school for me,” said McCuddy, now a voice-over talent and movie critic on NY1. Others in the room went on to producing and directing careers on CNN, Al Jazeera and HGTV.
“None of us would be here without Roger Ailes,” McCuddy said. “Now we have to wrap this party up because MSNBC is taking it over in 10 minutes.”