Shepard Smith returned to television Wednesday evening with a new show on CNBC, nearly one year after he abruptly quit Fox News.
The 56-year-old newsman made his debut on his general interest nightly newscast Wednesday at 7pm EST called The News with Shepard Smith, putting him back in the time slot he loved before Fox moved him to the afternoon seven years ago.
Smith, a Fox News original who joined that network at its start in 1996, left the network in October 2019 following a spat with Tucker Carlson. During his time there he also faced repeated taunts from Donald Trump as he was one of the network’s few critics of the president.
On Wednesday, Smith opened his show calling out the president’s comments during Tuesday night’s debate.
He said Trump ‘called into question the heart of our democracy’. Smith also noted ‘the president told a group of white supremacists…to stand back and stand by’ and how Biden called Trump ‘a racist, a liar, a clown’.
He opened his show with no music, arguing the debate had been ‘noise’ and ended the evening by revealing a CNBC poll found 53 per cent of those asked thought Joe Biden did best in the debate, compared to just 29 per cent for the president.
Other topics covered in the show included the limited reopening of indoor dining in New York City, California wildfires and mail in ballots.
Shepard Smith returned to television Wednesday evening with a new show on CNBC, nearly one year after he abruptly quit Fox News
Smith has previously said that unlike the Fox News model, his new show won’t focus on analysis, pundits and opinions – in fact his new show has a strict ‘no pundits’ rule.
‘We’re going to come out and do just the news,’ he said.
‘We’re not planning to do any analysis in our news hour.
We’re going to have journalists, reporters, sound and video. We’re going to have newsmakers and experts… but no pundits. We’re going to leave the opinion to others. It’s exactly what I’ve been wanting to do. It’s what I’ve been working at for 30 years,’ he added.
He said he’s relishing the fresh start after spending 23 years at his old base.
‘It’s not an easy thing to start from scratch,’ Smith said. ‘There’s no muscle memory at CNBC in terms of doing a general newscast. We’re creating all of that. And that’s fun. It was fun creating in 1996, and it’s fun creating in 2020.’
Now it’s up to his Fox News followers to migrate with him to the new network.
The Twitter page for the show describes it as ‘Non-partisan coverage of the day’s most important stories’.
In a commercial for the show Smith says: ‘What’s crucial is accuracy in context and with perspective…
I came to CNBC to report the news, without bias, without opinion, it’s my belief that the facts will the day.’
Smith will work out of a new studio that’s been built for him at CNBC’s New Jersey headquarters by three crews that kept construction going 24 hours a day over eight weeks.
He begins a general interest nightly newscast Wednesday at 7pm EST, putting him back in the time slot he loved before Fox moved him to the afternoon seven years ago
Smith pictured during his photoshoot for his new TV program in July
Smith left more questions than answers upon his exit from Fox News in October 2019.
‘I built a career at Fox News and I have some deep friendships, ones that I’m going to keep forever,’ he said.
‘But simply, I just felt it was the right time to leave. I asked them if I could and they eventually allowed me to do that.’
He abruptly left his television home two weeks after a clash with conservative host Tucker Carlson.
Carlson had brought on a guest on his show who said Fox’s Andrew Napolitano was a ‘fool’ for analysis offered on Smith’s show.
Smith said on the air that Carlson’s attack was repugnant and Carlson later mocked him for it.
Smith had also felt pressure in the public eye and was repeatedly taunted by President Donald Trump for his ‘liberal’ coverage.
As Smith progressed in his career at Fox he found himself veering away from his peers’ style of work at the network where opinion is king.
‘It’s not an easy thing to start from scratch,’ Smith said.
‘There’s no muscle memory at CNBC in terms of doing a general newscast. We’re creating all of that. And that’s fun. It was fun creating in 1996, and it’s fun creating in 2020.’ Pictured above in a Fox News studio
Eventually in 2013 he was pulled from the evening schedule, where the biggest cable news audiences reside, which also served as an early sign that the network was tipping more towards opinion. It was announced that he would be on call to anchor in prime-time during big stories, but there proved little interest in pre-empting the stars.
His 3pm newscast was influential, even if unpopular with many core Fox viewers, and the network’s willingness to pay its personalities well no doubt eased hurt feelings.
At Fox, ‘their business model is working very well for them,’ he said.
‘Their opinion people state their opinions and they draw big audiences. I have no problem with that.’
When asked about his final exit, Smith said: ‘I had felt like it was time for a new challenge for a long time. Nothing about any talent, any on-air people at that place, pushed me out the door.’
When asked about Smith’s departure by DailyMail.com, President Trump said: ‘Is he leaving because of bad ratings?
Is he leaving because of me?’
Smith, a Mississippi native, said he enjoyed some down time after his departure from Fox News, with a couple of vacations.
Smith has been quarantined on Long Island since March with his partner Gio Gaziano and their dog Lucia.
Smith has been quarantined on Long Island since March with his partner Gio Gaziano and their dog Lucia.
Pictured together above in 2015
In his down time he also took meetings with media suitors.
‘He’s smart as a whip, agile, super curious and an amazing broadcaster,’ said news consultant Michael Clemente, Smith’s former boss at Fox News and a longtime ABC News executive.
‘He’s in the same league as Peter Jennings.
He’s probably got better chops than just about everyone who is out there, and he’s not a product of New York. He’s not from Los Angeles. He’s from the core of the country.’
Every few years when Smith approached the end of a contract, CNBC Chairman Mark Hoffman would check in with Smith’s agent, Larry Kramer.
This year the three men met in a nearly empty Manhattan restaurant just before the COVID shutdown.
With CNN, MSNBC and the broadcast networks courting Smith, CNBC was considered an underdog, at best.
‘My feeling was that it was not an obvious, conventional move for him,’ Hoffman said.
‘But at the same time I felt we had a concept we had been thinking about for a number of years that just might fit his interests. It just so happened that it was, item for item, exactly what Shep was looking for.’
Since leaving Fox News, Smith had been courting offers from CNN, MSNBC and CNBC.
Final negotiations with CNBC were made over Zoom as the network seeks to start an evening newscast to bridge the hard stock news of the day into the lighter evening programs. Smith pictured in March 2014
CNBC offers financial news during the day and general interest programs that appeal to an affluent audience at night, things like Shark Tank, Jay Leno’s Garage and Secret Lives of the Super Rich.
The network needed something to serve as a bridge between the day and night identities, and thought a smart, straight newscast could do the trick, he said.
‘We really clicked at that first meeting,’ Hoffman said. ‘It was one of those easy conversations.
It wasn’t a sales pitch. We didn’t talk about what we wanted him to do. I just talked about what we wanted to do. We had a nice chemistry and our interests seemed to be aligned. I would say he left the meeting intrigued and then it moved from there.’
That was their last face-to-face meeting.
Negotiations were done via Zoom.
Smith said he heard great ideas from other networks.
‘It’s just that this one fit better,’ he said.
Being part of the larger NBC News family would hold potential future options for Smith, as well as providing journalists whose work could be included in his new CNBC show.
Otherwise, CNBC offers the closest thing to a clean slate you can find in television news.
Fox News Channel is averaging 2.7 million viewers in the 7pm time slot this year.
MSNBC has 1.7 million and CNN has 1.5 million, the Nielsen company said.
At the same time on CNBC, Shark Tank has been averaging 153,000 viewers.
While it could take a while to build up an audience, Smith is entering the evening newscast slot at a good time as audiences have spiked for the 6.30pm newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC this year, likely due to the pandemic and protests.
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