Joe Kernen, Carl Quintanilla and David Faber hosted last night’s tribute special to Mark Haines, who died Tuesday night. A cause of death has not been revealed. Kernen and Faber were fixtures with Haines on the original “Squawk Box” in the early days of CNBC.

Scott Cohn reported the lead-off obituary story, which had a technical glitch midway through, the remainder of which was played later.

Haines’ co-hosts over the years on “Squawk on the Street”, Melissa Lee, Simon Hobbs, and Erin Burnett, who left CNBC earlier this month, all shared memories of Haines from the floor of the NYSE — showing video of his office, including a shirt which still had its IFB cord hanging from the collar.

Jim Cramer, host of “Mad Money” talked about when he joined the network: “I was a nobody. Haines made me somebody.”

The commercial-free special, in its entirety, after the jump…

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CNBC’s Mark Haines died last night. His death was announced at 9:53amET during the show that he would normally be anchoring, “Squawk on the Street,” by anchor Carl Quintanilla who read a statement from CNBC president Mark Hoffman.

At this hour, most of CNBC’s coverage is being devoted to Haines’ death, which has come as a shock to colleagues. Haines was 65. A cause of death has not been announced.

Haines joined CNBC in 1989 and was the founding anchor of the network’s signature morning show, “Squawk Box” before moving to “Squawk on the Street.”

Haines, who had a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and was a member of the New Jersey State Bar, had been a news anchor for KYW-TV in Philadelphia, WABC-TV in New York, and WPRI-TV in Providence.

It was Haines who delivered an emotional goodbye to his longtime co-anchor Erin Burnett less than three weeks ago as Burnett departed for CNN.

> More: Burnett phoned in to CNBC’s coverage at 10:50am to share her thoughts: “One of the most important things I learned was just that generosity and graciousness he showed that first day.” And about her final day on CNBC: “It was an unforgettable moment in my life and I’m glad we had it. I’m glad we had it.”

> More: Bob Pisani reads a statement from the NYSE: “Mark was an outstanding colleague and will be missed.”

> More: FBN achor Liz Claman who co-anchored with Haines on CNBC’s “Morning Call” from 2003-2007, and who was given the nickname “La Liz” by Haines, writes, “The day I left, he called me and said, ‘I’ll miss you, kid.’ I cried that day, as I do today. I miss you too, Mark. You remain unmatched in your unfailing ability to see through the noise and nonsense so many people spew out today. You were the benchmark of honesty. Thank you for that.”

CNBC will produce a special on Mark Haines tonight at 7pmET.

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CNBC’s Joe Kernen and his daughter Blake are promoting their new book, “Your Teacher Said What?” this week, which includes stops on Fox News Channel. This morning on “Fox & Friends,” which goes head-to-head against Kernen’s CNBC show “Squawk Box,” Steve Doocy said, “Look at this Blake you are fair and balanced at 11-years-old.” Kernen laughed and said, “That’s Fox News’ slogan, and I agree with it.” (Video after the jump.)

The Kernens were also on “Hannity” last night, a clip of which was played this morning on “Squawk Box,” with anchor Becky Quick adding, “If you’ve been wondering where Joe is, the Kernens are on the road promoting the new book. Joe’s going to be back on set with us tomorrow.”

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CNBC’s Joe Kernen has a new book coming out, and it’s co-authored by his daughter Blake. The tome, titled, “Your Teacher Said What? Defending our kids from the Liberal Assault on Capitalism” comes out Thursday and despite being co-written by a tween, this is no children’s book.

The book gets reviewed in Forbes.com by Steve Forbes.

Joe immediately identifies those standing in the way of progress, who, ironically, call themselves Progressives. These folks are essentially elitist and profoundly distrust free markets, thinking they can run things better than we the people. Readers will also find an eye-opening comparison of social welfare in the U.S. and in western European countries, including Sweden. The surprising conclusion: America has more of it. This is truly a book for adults and kids of (almost) all ages.

The Kernens will be feted at a book party later this month hosted by CNBC president Mark Hoffman.

Blake Kernen has been a semi-regular on CNBC. She made her debut when she was four months old (right) talking about CDOs and credit derivatives. She returned to “Squawk Box” a couple years ago talking about her favorite musicians.

March Madness is over, and UConn has emerged victorious. The UConn win also means that the 2011 TVNewser Bracket Challenge is over.

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2011 TVNewser March Madness Bracket Challenge winner: Bloomberg TV markets reporter Dominic Chu.

He won in commanding fashion, pulling in 89 points.

Chu, a former hedge fund trader, tells TVNewser:

“I’d like to thank TVNewser and all the Doctors of Bracketology out there in the Bloomberg TV newsroom…as well as Bloomberg Sports Analytics…it was a team effort…and thanks to the UCONN Huskies for making this whole thing possible…I totally forgive you for your performance during the regular season and the Big East Tournament…Thank You…Thank You!”

You can congratulate Chu on Twitter @The_Domino.

Second place went to CNBC “Mad Money” EP Regina Gilgan, who netted 74 points, and also bested nine of her CNBC colleagues.

Rounding out the top five: “Early Show” EP David Friedman with 60 points, CNBC’s Joe Kernen with 59 points, and “Early Show” weather anchor Marysol Castro with 58 points.

More notes, as well as the full rankings, after the jump.

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FishbowlNY’s Diane Clehane was at her usual Wednesday perch at Michael’s Restaurant where media types do lunch. And it was an interesting mix of TV news talent and execs. Including table 5:

5. CNBC’s Joe Kernen, who upon arrival bellowed, “Is Welch here yet? ” Minutes later, Jack Welch‘s appearance was a lot quieter but turned a lot more heads.

But Welch wasn’t the only chairman in the house. Fox News’s top man Roger Ailes pulled up a chair at table 4…

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March Madness continues, and only 16 teams remain. We figured now is as good a time as any to check in on the participants in our TVNewser bracket challenge.

Bloomberg TV’s Dominic Chu is all by himself in first place at the moment with 45 points, though there are lots of people right on his heels, including CNBC’s Becky Quick, Joe Kernen and Ramona Schindelheim, and CBS’ Jeff Glor. All four are tied for second place with 43 points.

What about the rest of the standings? Find out after the jump

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The time has come. The very first March Madness games are underway, and with them, comes the 2011 TVNewser bracket challenge.

Last year we had executive producers from across the TV news landscape make their picks, with “BBC World News America” EP Rome Hartman emerging victorious.

Hartman is back this year to defend his crown, but we opened the field up to all senior executives, executive producers and talent.

One thing we learned: “The Early Show” crew sticks together, and CNBCers love their college basketball.

Who are our players? Find out after the jump.

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CNBC’s Rick Santelli has left his usual spot at the Chicago Merc and is instead at CNBC World Headquarters this election day. Santelli, whose Feb. 2009 on-air rant gave birth to the tea party movement, will take part in CNBC’s midterm coverage.

Calling him “the father of the tea party,” Joe Kernen welcomed Santelli to “Squawk Box” this morning. Speaking of the Tea Party movement, Santelli said “I don’t think it’s going to morph into a party, but I think it’s going to morph into a political force that will have input into the system.” Talking about the extremes in this election, specifically Christine O’Donnell, Santelli said: “You need the extremes to bring the discussion in. She’s not going to win this time, but she’s going to alter the discourse, that’s good. We need extreme people.”

One-time presidential candidate Howard Dean joined Santelli on set and when the conversation turned to Pres. Obama, Kernen held up today’s New York Post (left):” “This is Rupert Murdoch… if this is not a repudiation…” “That is propaganda,” said Dean, “I think it’s a repudiation of the promise of the notion that he was going to change the way business is done in Washington and that did not happen.”

Santelli, a self-described Independent, will be on CNBC all day contributing commentary as well as his commodities reporting. When asked this summer in a TVNewser interview whether he believed he was the father of the tea party, Santelli said, “If that’s what they put on my tombstone, they can bury me with a smile.”

TVNewser attended the book party for CNBC’s Michelle Caruso-Cabrera last night. The book, “You Know I’m Right: More Prosperity, Less Government,” is Caruso-Cabrera’s solution to what we should do about the economic and societal hardships of today.

Caruso-Cabrera, who co-anchors “Power Lunch” with Sue Herera and Tyler Mathisen, was proud of the turnout. “My colleagues all came out from New Jersey,” Caruso-Cabrera told TVNewser, “and some of them never come out.”

Among the guests: Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of CNBC parent General Electric, and his wife Suzy Welch; fellow CNBC anchors Melissa Francis, Joe Kernen, and Tyler Mathisen made an appearance.