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The Wind-Up
"Your World with Neil Cavuto," hosted by veteran business journalist Neil Cavuto, regularly features the industry captains who you would expect would want to get some face time
on Fox News Channel (FNC), which continues to drub rivals CNN and MSNBC in the increasingly high stakes for cable news ratings. Whether it's GE Chairman-CEO Jeffrey Immelt or Dell
Computer Chairman Michael Dell, the big chieftains know that Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., is an important vehicle for their messages.
But Cavuto features other guests who may not generally be associated with the business world, but generate a lot of revenue. For example, Cavuto has hosted former world
heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman to talk about his line of grilling products, sixteen-year old singing sensation Charlotte Church and, most recently, The (current)
Bachelor on ABC-TV, Andrew Firestone, the great-grandson of tire entrepreneur Harvey Firestone. "We're bigger than a regular business show," says Gresham Striegel, senior producer
of the program (since 2001). "We're not just going to give you the EBITDA numbers and that stuff. We're lively, and fast-paced."
The Pitch
"Your World" runs on the Fox News Channel from 4-5 p.m. EST Monday-Friday and is rebroadcast at 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. Cavuto usually kicks off the show with a rundown of
the top stories, how the markets performed as well as a look at the leaders and laggards on Wall Street. (All bets are off if there's a breaking story). He may then run a news
package or two and then toss to a correspondent for an update from the field, depending on that day's volume of news. But Cavuto likes to keep the conversation within the studio.
"Neil wants people with passion, who are not afraid to speak their minds and who are not going to sit on the fence and hem and haw," says Striegel. "He wants people who are going
to come out of the gate fast and furious. [The show's] segments go by quickly, maybe five, six minutes at most, so people have to get to the point right away, and if they don't
they're not going to make a good guest and the audience is not going to sit around and watch them."
In Fox fashion, Cavuto relishes guests who like to mix it up rather than stay on script. He still asks the key questions, but in an unorthodox manner. "For that reason, some
CEOs will not do the show because they do not want to be taken out of their talking points," Striegel says. Striegel is the show's main contact; he prefers to be contacted by e-
mail, [email protected]. Make sure to pitch your stories early in the morning, since Striegel and his six-person staff
start to get swamped as the day progresses. "Give it to me in black and white," says Striegel. "Give me the who, what, when, where and how. What's going to makes this guest stand
out? If the person has 10 reasons why people should invest in the stock market, what are they? Why is he/she going to be a great guest?" Deadlines are fairly intense because the
show runs every business day. Timing is of the essence. Indeed, there are occasions when the show won't be fully booked until a few hours before airtime.
The Follow-Through
The show largely follows the news cycles, so Striegel likes to keep his powder dry. But he's always looking for fresh angles, and is willing to commit the time. "If you have
a major study on CEOs that is coming out for two months but you want to give it to us first, and a lot of people do, we'll pencil it in," he says. "We'll look at things with a lot
of advance time."