CNBC

Poor Donald Trump.

He is just a normal, everyday billionaire, and all he ever wanted was to have his voice heard. For many years, cable news channels would go more than a week without interviewing him. Sometimes, he would only appear on TV as little as once a month–an eternity for his gold-plated DVR. The horror!

Luckily, Trump has finally been recognized as the political and economic savant that he truly is. There are now two cable news channels that are giving him a chance to speak his mind in a regular segment every single week.

The first is his Monday morning segment on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends.” That one isn’t new, Trump has been calling in weekly to that program since last April.

Now however, a second cable network has generously given Mr. Trump time to share his thoughts. CNBC’s “Squawk Box” (a competitor to “Fox & Friends”) started “Trump Tuesdays” a few weeks ago. The focus tends to be a bit more on the economy, but there is still plenty of politics, as this week’s segment shows:

Read more

On CNBC’s “Mad Money,” host Jim Cramer celebrated the program’s seventh anniversary with a “seven” themed show. He began with a monologue somewhat like a “State of the Union” for the financial biz.

WATCH:

He went on to do a number of other anniversary segments, including a segment taking aim at his detractors by pointing out the top seven stocks that have made people the most money over the last seven years:

WATCH:
Read more

CNBC has tapped Kevin Krim as its new GM of digital, reporting directly to CNBC president Mark Hoffman. Krim joins CNBC from Bloomberg, where he had been global head of digital, overseeing Bloomberg.com and BusinessWeek.com, among other sites.

In a note to staff, Hoffman notes that CNBC has been expanding its digital offering in recent years, adding mobile apps and new products, like the subscription CNBC Pro.

“Our digital businesses have matured to a point where we need a Digital General Manager to develop and execute a cohesive digital strategy that will take CNBC to the next level,” Hoffman wrote.

The addition of Krim will result in a management realignment. Details on that in Hoffman’s note, after the jump.

Read more

Being the morning after Super Tuesday, one might expect the GOP candidates to be all over the network and cable news morning shows. Not so, however. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum skipped NBC, ABC and CBS, as well as Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.

Romney did make one appearance this morning however… on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”:

About a year ago at this time we were talking about the ratings for the TV edition of “Imus in the Morning” and whether the FBN show would be around much longer. Well, a year later it is, and we have some new ratings data to share.

“Imus in the Morning,” which is about three years into its run, edged the first hour of its chief rival CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in Total Viewers in February. The 6amET hour of Imus averaged 86,000 viewers to “Squawk’s” 83,000. Year-over-year, Imus is up +72% in that hour. Imus is still pretty much getting crushed in younger viewers, averaging 8,000 viewers, while “Squawk Box” averaged 39,000 for the month.

In the 7am hour, “Imus” and “Squawk” both add viewers, but in the case of CNBC the numbers nearly doubled to 162,000 while Imus gained 20K viewers, averaging 106,000.

And one more victory lap (or stroll) Imus can take: Nielsen numbers indicate his show on Monday topped CNN’s “Early Start.” Imus averaged 122K and “Early Start” drew 117K. CNN still had him beat in the demo 35K vs. 20K.

Last Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed above the 13,000 mark for the first time in almost four years. Today, it closed above 13,000 settling at 13,005. The business networks have been keeping a close eye on that mark for the last week. “Here we go. Can we do it? Five points away,” said CNBC’s Bill Griffeth just before 4pmET.

“Wow this market is sure something,” said Bloomberg’s Trish Regan as the closing bell was rung. David Asman on FBN added, “When the bell rings, the action begins. It looks like this is going to be the first day for the Dow to settle above 13,000. ”

A broker on Bloomberg chimed in: “I’m glad we did it. Now we can move on.”

A few weeks ago we gave you a sneak preview of CNBC’s new set on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and this morning it was officially christened on-air by the “Squawk on the Street” crew. Now dubbed “Post Nine,” in honor of the trading post it replaced, the set will become the new home for CNBC’s NYSE coverage going forward.

There is a fair amount of technological gimmickry involved, including a large HD touchscreen, and small cameras mounted on rails, allowing for remote operation.

WATCH:

More, after the jump.

Read more

Hey, did you hear? Sports Illustrated released its annual “Swimsuit Issue” this week, and it is really important to financial professionals. Seriously. Don’t believe us? Then why would CNBC and FBN run segments about it?

On FBN the network featured a bevy of swimsuit beauties on the floor of the new York Stock Exchange, and highlighted a ridiculous graphic called the “Swimsuit Indicator” which suggested that when an American graces the cover of the issue, the S&P 500 does well. Hard to argue with that impervious logic!

CNBC managed to snag an interview with the covergirl herself, Kate Upton. “Senior swimsuit correspondent” Darren Rovell spoke to Upton about the “business of swimsuits”:

Read more

Now that CNBC is planning to branch out into reality programming, we thought it would be appropriate to help acclimate Jim Ackerman to his new role, and give him a few ideas.

Here, in no particular order, are some of TVNewser’s CNBC Reality Show Suggestions:

“The Biggest Loser: Wall Street Edition”

“Keeping up with Kenneth Chenault”

“Jamie Dimon‘s are a Girls Best Friend”

“Are You Smarter Than a Jim Cramer?”

“America’s Next Top Financial Modeling System”

“Top Chef: Cooking the Books”

“The Real Housewives of Davos”

We also solicited ideas from our Twitter followers. Some of their suggestions:

Read more

Jim Ackerman, a one-time “Dateline NBC” and “Today” show producer who’s been developing series at VH1 for the past several years, is returning to NBC as Senior Vice President of primetime alternative programming at CNBC.

This is a new role at CNBC, which appears to want to break out of the traditional long-form business programming which makes up primetime — corporate portraits, fraud and stories of business tycoons — and add what has become a staple of cable and broadcast TV: reality shows. Ackerman will report directly to CNBC president Mark Hoffman.

“Jim will be responsible for CNBC’s strategy, development and production of new formats, including reality for our networks,” writes Hoffman in a note to staff.

While at VH1 Ackerman oversaw development of shows including “Best Week Ever,” “Celebrity Fit Club,” and “Race-o-Rama.”

In his career, Ackerman has developed projects for Buena Vista, Telepictures, Fox News and HBO and was EP of Lifetime’s “The Jane Pratt Show.” In the 1990s, he worked at CBS News as senior broadcast producer of “CBS This Morning.”

Hoffman’s note after the jump…

Read more