Anchor Shepard Smith is out at CNBC following cancellation of his primetime nightly program The News with Shephard Smith. 

“After spending time with many of you and closely reviewing the various aspects of our business, I believe we must prioritize and focus on our core strengths of business news and personal finance,” newly installed CNBC president KC Sullivan said in a memo to staff. (The missive was leaked to Deadline and other pubs in the Penske showbiz trade monopoly.)

“We need to further invest in business news content that provides our audiences actionable understanding of the complex developments in global markets and the implications on institutions, investors and individuals,” Sullivan added. 

Smith, 58, joined CNBC two years ago from his longtime perch at Fox News Channel. 

“We aim to deliver a nightly program that, in some small way, looks for the signal in all the noise,” just-departed CNBC chief Mark Hoffman said at the time.

Smith, who’d been with Fox News since it launched in 1996, was given a reported annual salary of $10 million and a staff of around 25 underlings. But similar to the fates of Smith's former Fox News colleagues, Megyn Kelly and Greta Van Susteren, who also flamed out in their unsuccessful respective transitions to NBC News and MSNBC, Smith couldn't get his sizable audience at far-right network Fox News to follow him to his new perch at more centrist and business-focused CNBC. 

In his first two months on CNBC, Smith's show averaged only around 280,000 viewers, and the show never found traction from there. 

"The News set out on a bold mission of providing non-partisan, fact-based reporting on the most important stories of the day in the U.S. and around the world,” Sullivan added. “The quality journalism Shep and his team delivered each weeknight was exemplary and not lost on us or our 7 p.m. audience. The News increased CNBC’s 7 p.m. viewership average and attracted the most affluent audience of any primetime cable news program.  At a time when misinformation and disinformation is rampant, The News succeeded in providing audiences with the clearest understanding of the facts.” ▪️

The News with Shepard Smith has launched on CNBC. Smith joined CNBC after a 23-year run at Fox News Channel, where he was chief general news anchor. The live, hour-long program starts weekdays at 7 p.m. Smith described it as “a full-plate newscast” that will not have pundits or opinion. “There’s plenty of that — I don’t hate on anybody for it,” he said. “But it’s not what we’re going to do.” 

He spoke with Multichannel News senior content producer Michael Malone about launching a newscast during COVID, and what he offers that viewers can’t get elsewhere. An edited transcript follows.

Tell me about launching a show during a pandemic. It’s not something that I needed to prepare for a few months ago. It didn’t come with a road map. I have launched a number of shows but never anything like this. 

I’d met only one person at CNBC in person before COVID and that was [chairman] Mark Hoffman. We’d had many conversations to make sure this is what I wanted to do. Once we reached that conclusion and I was positive and ready to go, by then we were in lockdown. Every decision, everyone I met, has been by Zoom or Teams. Every discussion about sets, about correspondents, about editorial, about philosophies, about history, about the future, everything, by Teams.

We had more than 2,000 applicants for 27 positions. We took that as an enormous compliment and an enormous challenge to find the very best ones in the bunch. 

What will viewers get from your show they don’t get anywhere else? We seek the truth, find the truth and tell the truth and let chips fall where they may. We speak truth to power. We cover all the big stories that are part of our lives right now. Most fit into politics, COVID, information age, social justice, income inequality and climate. We want to go a little deeper and report a little harder on stories that really impact people’s lives. 

What’s a 2020 story that isn’t getting enough attention? Lake Charles, Louisiana. People were decimated by the storm. Those stories aren’t being told nationally and they should be. There are towns in the west that have been removed from the face of the earth by fires. People are looking for shelter in a pandemic. Their stories deserve to be told. 

What are you watching for fun? [Bravo’s] Million Dollar Listing Los
Angeles. [Netflix’s] The Home Edit for reasons I can’t describe to you. Two hilarious people rearranging people’s closets is somehow entertaining to me. I spend a lot of time watching the Yankees. I like football on Sunday, but I really love football on Saturday. 

For those who go to CNBC at 7 p.m. for Shark Tank reruns, what do you say to them? [Laughs.] Wait an hour! I love Shark Tank. We have Jim Cramer on at 6 and after us is reality/aspirational money shows. There’s a place for a newscast in there. This is a loyal audience. It’s influential. To the degree that they’ll come watch us, we welcome them. 

There are people who’ve been watching me in times of great happiness and great sadness for decades. If they want to come check us out at 7 o’clock, we’d love to have them, too.

The News with Shepard Smith premieres on CNBC Sept. 30, the hour-long program, which Smith called “a full-plate newscast,” in the 7 p.m. slot. CNBC described it as “providing deep, non-partisan coverage and perspective on the day’s most important stories,” going “beyond the headlines to give its viewers sharp context into the world around them in real-time.”

Smith spent 23 years at Fox News Channel, where he was chief general news anchor. Topics covered on the new show mostly fall into politics, COVID, the information age, social justice, incoming inequality and climate. Journalists from the NBCUniversal stable--NBC News, Sky News, Telemundo, owned and affiliated stations--will contribute. Correspondents include Eamon Javers, Jane Wells and Kayla Tausche. 

“We seek the truth, find the truth and tell the truth and let chips fall where they may,” Smith told B&C. “We speak truth to power. We cover all the big stories that are part of our lives right now.”

Whether it’s COVID, social justice or climate, there’s a giant story or two every darn day. “We want to find the truth about those things as we know it, and tell viewers what we don’t know,” he said. “Sometimes what we don’t know is just as important as what we do.”

Smith said The News seeks to “find that hero in the carnage”--the person who saves others in the wildfires, the researcher responsible for the breakthrough in the pandemic. 

What The News won’t do is spend a lot of time on what newsmakers are tweeting. There won’t be opinions or punditry either. “There’s plenty of that — I don’t hate on anybody for it,” he said. “But it’s not what we’re going to do.”

There is, of course, plenty of that at Fox News. Smith did not refer to his old employer by name, calling it “old co.” a few times instead. 

Smith is portrayed in Brian Stelter’s new book Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth as an essential news-gatherer and fact checker at Fox News, at times contradicting the pundits to set the record straight for viewers. Smith called Hoax an interesting read, but did not say anything more about it, other than that he did not participate with Stelter on the book.

Smith’s news sources include The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Washington Examiner and The New York Post. “I’m a consumer as the sun comes up and I’m still consuming when the sun goes down,” he said. “I go to trusted sources and when I see something that does not make sense to me, I’m fortunate to have research people that I send things to and say, is this right? We begin reporting on that if it’s something we as a team want to do.”

Smith said The News had over 2,000 applicants for 27 positions. “We took that as an enormous compliment, and an enormous challenge to find the very best ones in the bunch,” he said.  

The News with Shepard Smith, anchored by the former Fox News Channel anchor, premieres on CNBC Sept. 30. The live, hour-long program starts at 7 p.m. It will be produced at CNBC headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 

Smith spent 23 years at Fox News Channel, where he was chief news anchor. He joined CNBC July 13 as chief general news anchor and chief breaking general news anchor.

“The News with Shepard Smith will deliver the day’s news that goes well beyond headlines and political punditry,” said Dan Colarusso, CNBC’s senior VP of business news. “We are going to tell stories and show images that make sense of an increasingly complicated world.”

CNBC described The News as “providing deep, non-partisan coverage and perspective on the day’s most important stories. Featuring on-the-ground reporting from around the globe, The News with Shepard Smith will go beyond the headlines to give its viewers sharp context into the world around them in real-time.”

Sanford Cannold is senior executive producer and Sally Ramirez joins CNBC as executive producer of the program. Cannold has spent more than 19 years at CNBC. Ramirez comes to CNBC from KHOU Houston, where she was executive news director. 

“In my more than 30 years in journalism, there has never been a better or more critical time to launch a non-partisan, fact-based evening newscast,” said Shepard Smith. “From the ongoing pandemic to the election and the economy, the mission of this program is to cover the most important news of the day with depth and clarity. Each night, we will be bold, we will be direct and we will deliver the truth to our viewers.”

CNBC has signed former Fox News veteran and anchor Shepard Smith to lead a one-hour evening news program, the network said Wednesday.

Smith, who left Fox News last October after more than two decades at the network, will begin his stint at CNBC on July 13. The new show, The News with Shepard Smith, will launch in the Fall and will cover the most significant news stories of the day, according to network officials

“Information is coming at us from every direction. If we’re not careful life-altering decisions will be made based on half-truth, rumor, misdirection or worse,” said Mark Hoffman, Chairman of CNBC in a statement. “We aim to deliver a nightly program that, in some small way, looks for the signal in all the noise. We’re thrilled that Shep, who’s built a career on an honest fight to find and report the facts, will continue his pursuit of the truth at CNBC.”

Smith most recently served as Fox News chief news anchor of the network and managing editor of the breaking news division after servicing as anchor of news series Shepard Smith Reporting. Before joining Fox News Channel, Smith was a Fox News Edge correspondent based in Los Angeles.

Shepard Smith joins CNBC starting July 13. The former Fox News anchor, Smith will be based at network headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. He will anchor one-hour The News with Shepard Smith Monday through Friday at 7 p.m., starting in the fall. The newscast “will cover the most significant news stories of the day and will feature the well-respected, fact-based storytelling that has been the hallmark of his 30-year career,” said CNBC. 

Smith will be chief general news anchor and chief breaking general news anchor. 

“Information is coming at us from every direction. If we’re not careful, life-altering decisions will be made based on half-truth, rumor, misdirection or worse,” said Mark Hoffman, chairman of CNBC. “We aim to deliver a nightly program that, in some small way, looks for the signal in all the noise. We’re thrilled that Shep, who’s built a career on an honest fight to find and report the facts, will continue his pursuit of the truth at CNBC.”

Hoffman added: “Shep’s newscast will tap into his extensive experience and deep passion for breaking news, in-depth storytelling and incisive interviews and serve as the perfect bridge between CNBC’s daytime investor-focused news programming and the network’s aspirational business-oriented entertainment programs in primetime.”

Smith spent 23 years at Fox News Channel, where he was chief news anchor. 

“Gathering and reporting the news has been my life’s work. I am honored to continue to pursue the truth, both for CNBC’s loyal viewers and for those who have been following my reporting for decades in good times and in bad,” said Smith. “Mark Hoffman, a journalist himself at his core, presented me with CNBC’s vision for a fact-based, hour-long evening news program with the mission to cut through the static to deliver facts, in context and with perspective. I know I found a great home for my newscast. I am excited to be working with the exceptional talent at CNBC and eager to build a team focused on uncovering the news behind the headlines.”

Earlier in his career, Smith worked at WSVN Miami, the former WCPX Orlando and WBBH Fort Myers, among other stations. 

Fox News Channel has chosen Bill Hemmer to anchor the 3 p.m. news hour formerly helmed by Shepard Smith, who exited in October.

Bill Hemmer Reports will launch Jan. 20. In addition to anchoring that “hard news” hour, Hemmer will head up breaking news coverage for the network.

Hemmer's morning news co-anchoring duties with Sandra Smith on America’s Newsroom ( 9 a.m.-noon) will be handled by a rotation of journalists.

“Bill is an incredible newsman and his ability to cut to the heart of the story while humanizing major events has made him a standout talent in news," said Fox News Channel president and executive editor of FOX News Media Jay Wallace. "As we start gearing up for the 2020 election, we are thrilled to have him lead our news division through what will sure to be an eventful year.”

Shepard Smith, Fox News Channel chief news anchor and managing editor of its breaking news unit, is stepping down.

Smith said he asked to leave, was first urged to stay, but then Fox "graciously obliged."

Friday's edition of Shepard Smith Reporting was his last show, according to Fox News Media president Jay Wallace.

Related: Fox's Shep Smith Receives Zeidenberg Award

“Shep is one of the premier newscasters of his generation and his extraordinary body of work is among the finest journalism in the industry," said Wallace. "His integrity and outstanding reporting from the field helped put Fox News on the map and there is simply no better breaking news anchor who has the ability to transport a viewer to a place of conflict, tragedy, despair or elation through his masterful delivery … While this day is especially difficult as his former producer, we respect his decision and are deeply grateful for his immense contributions to the entire network.”

Fox will rotate anchors in Smith's 3 p.m. slot until a new daytime newscast is announced. Smith was one of the news net's first hires in 1996.

The announcement--Smith let viewers know on his last show--follows a dust-up between Smith and prime time Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, who complained when Smith defended a comment by a Fox analyst that President Trump may have broken the law. 

Smith and fellow anchor Chris Wallace have had a reputation for delivering straight political news when others on the network stuck closer to party lines.

Related: Center of Attention

“Recently I asked the company to allow me to leave Fox News and begin a new chapter," Smith said. "After requesting that I stay, they graciously obliged. The opportunities afforded this guy from small town Mississippi have been many. It’s been an honor and a privilege to report the news each day to our loyal audience in context and with perspective, without fear or favor. I’ve worked with the most talented, dedicated and focused professionals I know and I’m proud to have anchored their work each day — I will deeply miss them.”

Smith said per his agreement with Fox he won't be reporting anywhere else in the near term. 

Last month, Smith pushed back on the president's claims about a border wall.

The president this week, in a tweeted attack on Fox for not being the go-to Trump channel he had come to expect, included Smith in a list of folks that he said do not "deliver for US anymore."

NEW YORK — It’s the “Jerry’s World” AT&T Stadium mega-screen of the network news sector. It’s part Roger Waters, part touch screen from Minority Report. It’ll make you run short of adjectives.

“It” is the set for Fox News Channel’s Shepard Smith Reporting. The signature studio, unveiled with much fanfare last Oct. 7, is a “command center” that integrates real-time news feeds, digital media newsgathering and state-of-the-art technology. It’s also the home for FNC’s breaking news coverage.

The multimillion-dollar “Fox News Deck” showcases an array of elements, notably “The Monster,” a 7-footby- 38-foot wrap module comprising 144 DLP rear projector cubes. It is often split into three large images, with Smith conducting remote-screen interviews at the left panel. Meanwhile, “The Wall” spans 12 feet by 21 feet, comprises 27 LCD screens and often provides a backdrop view of Sixth Avenue outside 21st Century Fox’s New York headquarters.

Then there’s “The Data Ribbon,” a band of 18 29- inch LCD displays that stretch for a combined 72 feet in a 180-degree arc, and a dozen BATS (big-area touch screens), 55-inch multiscreen monitors/workstations, where producers/information specialists deploy custom “platform” software for newsgathering and social media.

Camera operators pan the room, revealing the show’s producers in action and its anchor on the move from screen to screen, monitor to monitor. It’s a visual crush that turns previous election-night highlights, map technology and holograms into so much news tickertape. And that’s the point: It has given Fox News a splashy home in its perch as the No. 1 cable news outlet, while showcasing Smith’s vaunted spot as anchor.

The Fox News Deck was borne in reaction to the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013, as the crush of social media had traditional news outlets trailing men and women on the streets.

That’s no longer the case. “They have given us everything that there is,” Smith said. “We have ties with companies all over the country and around the world. We have the very best filtering software, the hardware, and the best people we’ve been able to find anywhere on earth. We have been out in front of every major breaking story since this thing went down and plan to keep it that way. And we haven’t made any big screw-ups, either.”

The multimillion-dollar investment is working. During the first quarter, Shepard Smith Reporting grew 10%, to an average 1.18 million viewers from 1.07 million for predecessor Studio B With Shepard Smith, according to Nielsen data. That delivery topped the combined audience of CNN, MSNBC and HLN in the same period. In the preferred news demo, adults 25 to 54, Shepard Smith Reporting averaged 205,000 viewers, 5% more than the 195,000 he posted last year, to beat all news-sector competitors.

TECH SPECS

Jonathan Glenn, senior producer, said the BATS employ touch-screen delivery and house “dozens upon dozens” of elements that can be used in the daily newscasts, including entries for social-media favorites such as Twitter, Vine and Instagram. “It’s how a lot of people start to get their news today,” Glenn said. “We can geo-landmark the tweets and reach out to the most salient feed.”

In addition to their newsgathering capabilities, the expansive computer screens serve as workstations and on-air visual props. “Shep has the ability to call out and then call up any screen,” Glenn said.

That functionality and the screens keep Smith on his toes, literally and figuratively.

“I really didn’t think that we were going to be able to maneuver ourselves around this environment and use it as effectively as we were planning,” Smith said. “[But] it all worked like we hoped it would.”

Perhaps it would be easier if Smith wore Nikes to navigate the set; no one would see them on-air.

“Mr. [Fox News chairman and CEO Roger] Ailes would,” Smith said, with a laugh. “We wear ties and hard-soled shoes at the Fox News Channel.”

With both Smith and the news constantly on the move, the set allows for a more nimble presentation. “It’s so much faster,” Smith said of the newsgathering process. “We’re able to get elements to the screen and contributors in and newsmakers from wherever things are happening at speeds that we really never could have dreamed of before. And as a result we can change on a dime.”

A DAY IN THE LIFE

A set visit on a typical day — in this case, April 15 — proves that notion, offering a demonstration of moving parts that make the machine function seamlessly.

The show opens with Ukranian forces striking back against the Russians for the first time. From left to right on the three-panel, 38-foot monster: images of citizen unrest, a map of the area and video of the troops.

Smith conducts on-screen panel interviews with a former FBI agent, as well as Fox correspondent Mike Tobin, who weighs in from Chicago on the hate crime shootings at a Jewish center in Johnson County, Kan.

After a segment about a pair of California serial killers, there is an anchor call out to a producer — “What do we got, Robbie?” — on raging wildfires in California. A segment later, Smith’s on the move again, approaching one of the BATS as the story begins with news that 2,500 homes in Sacramento have been impacted by the wildfire. There’s an overhead view of the area, where one can see smoke rising. The images slide across the touch screens and on to the main viewing screen.

The show’s rundown turns to speeches and moments of silence commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings. After pulling up the images via wand and gesture-based tracking technology from Oblong, Smith presides over a slide show, describing how the victims of the bombings have progressed over the past year: a ballerina performing with an artificial leg; college graduates at last year’s commencement ceremony; a fitting for a prosthetic appendage; and a man dribbling a ball during a physical therapy session.

Meanwhile, not everything is high-tech: Stagehands still adjust the heights of chairs for a rolling list of guests. The April 15 roster includes general assignment reporter Lea Gabrielle, a former fighter pilot, discussing the escalating situation in the Ukraine; legal analyst Mercedes Colwin, assessing the latest in the Oscar Pistorius murder case and how fi rmly his defense should be instructing him not to cry all the time; and Fox Business Network’s Gerri Willis, who provides tax tips on what Smith has jokingly labeled the “best day of the year.”

During the last commercial break of the afternoon, Smith salutes a cameraman, who’s off to work for news website The Blaze. “We should have made him full-time staff ,” he lamented.

After a humorous segment about a dog that was sent a notice to serve jury duty, and noting that it’s the 102nd anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, Smith, who had been aurally tipped by a producer a couple of minutes earlier, closes the show by reporting on the stock market’s surge, as the averages appear on The Wall.

It was a good show, Smith said: “We got in and out, didn’t go over.”

Watching from on the set, it’s impossible to stop checking out all the screens in constant motion, much as one would at a concert or a ballgame: in essence, watching the telecast on the TVs instead of live.

“It happens to me, too,” Smith said.

If Fox News Channel keeps getting its wish, that’s exactly what viewers will continue to do as well.

Fox News Desk Specs

Among the featured components on the set:

“The Monster”: 7-foot-by-38-foot wraparound comprising 144 DLP rear projector cubes.

“The Wall”: Standing 12 feet by 21 feet, this area is illuminated by 27 LCD displays.

“ The Data Ribbon”: Spans 180 degrees, with 18 29-inch LCD TV screens stretching for 72 feet.

“ BATS”: A dozen, 55-inch multi-touch screens with custom soft ware for newsgathering and social media for information specialists.

Slideshow:Think Minority Report: wand and gesture-based tracking technology from Oblong.

The Platform: Custom soft ware used by Fox News Deck info specialists for workflow purposes.

News Data: On average, info specialists gather 65 newsworthy media elements of varied content for daily on-air use

— Mike Reynolds