So why all the enthusiasm? It's "evidence of the success (of Fast Money's) mission," Ratigan tells TVNewser. A mission to make "the inaccessible and the esoteric and the boring...accessible, useful, and entertaining."

The Fast Money traders were on hand, too, for a focus on the agricultural boom, Chicago's financial markets, and corporations headquartered in Chicago. Guests included Playboy CEO Christie Hefner and CNBC's Suze Orman, a Windy City native recently named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People.

Ratigan also reported live today from Chicago for The Call, Power Lunch, and Closing Bell.

Additional pictures after the jump...

• Earlier: 5 Questions For... Dylan Ratigan

(photos by Alissa Krinsky)

On Monday, Money for Breakfast, with anchor Alexis Glick and fill-in anchor Eric Bolling, and Opening Bell, with Glick, airs live from Cafe du Monde. Guest have yet to be announced, but are slated to be local business leaders, sports stars and politicians.

The anchors of Happy Hour, Rebecca Gomez and Cody Willard, will also be in the French Quarter for the conference, anchoring the program on Tuesday from Pat O'Brien's bar.

The NCTA bills the showcase as, "The ultimate opportunity for cable telecommunications professionals to discover new products, advances in technology, and innovative ways to increase customer satisfaction and grow their businesses."

But with FBN talent and shows broadcasting from the conference, another side effect could be the ability to gain exposure for the seven-month-old network, as it looks to expand beyond its current 35 million home reach.

• Earlier: The TVNewser interview with Kimberly Dozier...

The Huffington Post's Danny Shea has the other story from Wednesday night — how the network's handled their pre-taped interviews with Sen. Hillary Clinton, in the context of some major new information in the race.

ABC, the only network to take live video from the Edwards announcement during the east coast feed of the broadcast, was also the only network to completely bump their Clinton interview from the broadcast (only for the east coast). A portion aired in the later broadcasts.

Meanwhile, Brian Williams told MSNBC how NBC had the first third interview Wednesday afternoon with Clinton, with ABC and CBS following shortly after before. "In between the Senator was checking her Blackberry. And I'm not trying to engage in any dime-store psychology, or go between the facts, but it was as if she was learning things between interviews," he said.

Jossip has the full story, and from the sound of a Fox insider, there may be another reason for her departure — she wasn't a very good reporter. "She could not do live television," the insider said. Jossip has video of some of her reports, done for local affiliates (apparently she "never made it on the FNC or FBN airwaves").

The tip, and the Jossip post, hint at a possible lawsuit, so this may just be the beginning of the story.

> Update: TVNewser commenter xyxy1234 writes, "Shahnaz was very nice and got along with everyone but when we would record those yahoo hits it would take 20 minutes to a half hour for one 2-3 minute hit we had to draw the line somewhere. I know it was business not personal."

One of those was the use of movement. "Leggy Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly has patented a background-to-foreground approach to the camera, chitchatting as she makes her way down the studio ramp. CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper stand and chat with panelists as though they're at the office water cooler," he writes.

Another key element to the change in coverage has been technology. CNN SVP and Washington bureau chief David Bohrman describes the huge "liquid wall" in CNN's Election Center. "It had been something I wanted to do for years," he said. "I wanted this big, dynamic room where we'd be able to toggle between individual tote boards and be able to transform it at the snap of a finger to a wall full of live remotes."

"There were even rumors you were going to join CNN, which, we can tell viewers, there's nothing to that," said King.

Seacrest joked that, "the only rumor," was the duo having dinner last night — which was true.

Last week rumors started circling about negotiations between Seacrest and CNN.

It turns out "Big Russ," is very much alive — Russert followed up McAuliffe's answer, saying, "Big Russ is in the Barcalounger still watching this, God bless him."

Politico's Ben Smith reports McAuliffe sent a bottle of scotch this week to Russert's father as an apology, with a note wishing him, "many more years of scotch-drinking on the Barcalounger."

If you haven't seen the awkward moment, check it out:

It will be the second award for the 60 Minutes-Washington Post joint investigation, by Steve Kroft, Ira Rosen and John Solomon. The first was the Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

The RFK Television judges gave CBS the award because the, "work exemplified an increasingly rare quality in journalism today: courage in reporting."

Winning the International Television award — "Uganda's Silent War" by Kira Kay and Jason Maloney of PBS News Hour and HDNet World Report.

Cowan is also the father of Fox News Channel correspondent, Claudia Cowan.

The Los Angeles Times writes, "You have Cowan to thank (or blame) for helping pioneer such popular publicity tools as celebrity sporting events, top 10 lists (the "most watchable man" or "most hypnotic eyes"), and product placement."

On Hardball last night, Chris Matthews moderated a heated debate, which turned into a history pop quiz, between Air America president Mark Green and talk radio host Kevin James.

James was getting worked up (Matthews even asked James, "Why are you screaming?") over the Bush-Obama back-and-forth, but later, the MSNBC anchor turned his attention to James' understanding of the historical analogy.

Throughout the next five minutes, Matthews asks, "What did Neville Chamberlain do?" and James uses variations of the term "appeasement" about a dozen times each. Eventually, James says he doesn't know. "This is pathetic," Matthews concludes. "We're talking to people with blank slates in terms of history."

Click continued to see the video, with the history session beginning around 2:15...

For the week of April 28:

Total Viewers: NBC: 5,617,000 / ABC: 4,496,000 / CBS: 2,859,000

Households: NBC: 4.3/16 / ABC: 3.5/12 / CBS: 2.2/8

A25-54 rating: NBC: 2.2 / ABC: 1.6 / CBS: 1.1

The billboard is part of a city of Louisville campaign called "Louisville's Own..." Sawyer is featured as well as Muhammad Ali and other famous Louisvillians.

(via Newsblues)