America's Talking

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America's Talking , a cable television channel created by NBC and spun off from CNBC, was launched on July 4, 1994. The headquarters were based in an office building in Fort Lee, NJ, 2 floors below CNBC's studios, on Fletcher Avenue. The programming was mainly focused on low-budget talk shows, and included the following lineup:

America's Talking A.M. - A morning talk show, hosted by Steve Doocy and Kai Kim.
Am I Nuts? - A psychological self-help show hosted by 2 psychologists.
What's New? - The latest hot gadgets, hosted by Mike Jerrick and later Brian Tracey.
Break A Leg with Bill McCuddy - Mid-afternoon chatfest hosted by the winner of a CNBC-sponsored talent contest, Bill McCuddy. Featured celebrities and musical acts.
Alive and Wellness - Healthy living by holistic methods, hosted by Carol Martin.
Ask E. Jean - A call-in advice show hosted by writer E. Jean Carroll.
Pork - A political talk show focusing on government waste hosted by John David Klein.
AT In-Depth - A two-hour news/talk show focusing on the day's top stories, co-hosted by Terry Anzur in Fort Lee and Chris Matthews in Washington. Matthews later got his own show (see below) and the show became "In Depth Coast to Coast" with Anzur in Burbank, CA, and John Gibson in Fort Lee.
Straight Forward - A celebrity hour-long talk show, hosted by the President of the network, Roger Ailes.
Bugged! - A comedic look at what bugs people, hosted by Brian O'Connor
R&R with Roger Rose - A late-night themed talk show featuring the latest music and celebrities
After Hours - This show replaced "R&R", was basically the same format, and eventually moved over to CNBC where it was hosted by Mike Jerrick.
Politics with Chris Matthews - This show is the only show from America's Talking still on the air (as of April, 2006). After moving over to CNBC during the rampdown of America's Talking, the show was renamed Hardball with Chris Matthews and eventually moved to MSNBC, where it still airs nightly at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m..

Roger Ailes founded America's Talking and later took over CNBC. America's Talking was singularly unsuccessful. In January, 1996, NBC announced plans to partner with Microsoft to launch MSNBC on cable and the internet, using the satellite transponder that America's Talking occupied, effectively ending the life of the network. America's Talking officially signed off on July 15, 1996, after Ailes had departed NBC and been hired by Rupert Murdoch to launch the Fox News Channel for News Corporation, and was replaced at 9 a.m. by MSNBC News Live, hosted by Jodi Applegate.

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