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Roger Eugene Ailes (born May 15, 1940) is a former Republican political consultant and the current president of Fox News Channel and chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group. Early Life, Education, and Family Born in Warren, Ohio, Ailes graduated from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, receiving his BA in 1962. He later received an Honorary Doctorate from the university. He was formerly married to Norma E. Ailes (born November, 1945), formerly a TV producer with Mission Media Ministries. The two raised one child, a daughter, Shawn C. Ailes Visco Ferrer (born July, 1968), a TV producer. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on July 3, 1997, that Ailes was engaged to Elizabeth Tilson (born December 17, 1960), whom he married on February 14, 1998. Formerly a TV executive, she is now a homemaker. Early television Ailes' career in television began in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was a producer and director for KYW, for a then-locally produced talk-variety show, The Mike Douglas Show. He later became executive producer for the show, which was syndicated nationally. He received two Emmy Awards for it 1967 and 1968. It was in this position, in 1967, that he had a spirited discussion about television in politics with one of the show's guests, Richard Nixon, who took the view that television was a gimmick. Later, Nixon called on Ailes to serve as his executive producer of TV. Nixon's election victory was only Ailes' first venture into political spotlight. Other ventures Ailes founded Ailes Communications, Inc., in New York in 1969, and consulted for various businesses and politicians, including WCBS-TV in New York. He also tried his hand in theater production with the Broadway musical Mother Earth (1972) and the off-Broadway hit play Hot-L Baltimore (1973-76), for which Ailes received 4 Obie Awards. He was executive producer for a television special The Last Frontier in 1974. He produced and directed a television special, Fellini: Wizards, Clowns and Honest Liars. Political consulting Ailes carried out Republican political consulting for many candidates during the 1970s and 1980s, but returned to presidential campaigning as a consultant to Ronald Reagan in 1984. He is widely credited with having coached Ronald Reagan to victory in the second presidential debate with Walter Mondale after Reagan had disappointed his partisans with what some call a lackluster effort in the first debate. In 1984, Ailes won an Emmy Award as executive producer and director of a television special, Television and the Presidency. In 1988 Ailes was credited (along with Lee Atwater) with guiding George H. W. Bush to a come-from-behind victory over Michael Dukakis. Ailes did not work on the 1992 Bush campaign against Bill Clinton. Later television In 1988, Ailes wrote a book with Jon Kraushar, You Are the Message: Secrets of the Master Communicators, in which he discusses some of his philosophies and strategies for successful performance in the public media eye. In 1991, Ailes convinced a syndicator to bring Rush Limbaugh from radio to television and became executive producer of the late-night show. He announced his withdrawal from political consulting in 1992. In 1993, Ailes became president of NBC's cable channel CNBC and began planning another NBC cable channel, America's Talking. The new channel debuted on July 4, 1994. Ailes also hosted his own nightly show, Straight Forward, a celebrity hour-long talk show. Fox News After the announcement of Microsoft and NBC's partnership to create an online and cable news outlet, MSNBC, taking the place of America's Talking, Ailes left the network in February 1996 and was hired by Rupert Murdoch to create Fox News Channel for News Corporation. In addition, 89 additional employees of the NBC networks left with Ailes to help with the new channel's creation. Adding to a team in place at Fox News, they created the programming concept and proceeded to select space in New York. Ailes worked individuals through five months of grueling 14-hour workdays and several weeks of rehearsal shows before launch, on October 7, 1996. Airing in 10 million households at launch, the network is currently available to 85 million households in the U.S. and over 55 countries worldwide. The network has also become the top cable news channel in the United States. Chairman of Fox Television Stations After the departure of Lachlan Murdoch from News Corporation, Ailes was named Chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group on August 15, 2005. Following his newest assignment, one of his first acts was canceling A Current Affair in September 2005 and replacing it with a new Geraldo Rivera show titled Geraldo at Large, which debuted on Halloween, 2005. Rivera's show drew about the same ratings as A Current Affair.* Ailes also hired former CBS executive Dennis Swanson in October 2005, who will be president of the Fox Television Stations Group. Additionally, there has also been changes in affiliates news programs with the uniforming of Fox News Channel-like graphics, redesigned studios, news-format changes, and the announcement of a new morning television show to be produced by Fox News Channel. MyNetworkTV Following the announcement of the UPN/WB merger to The CW network, News Corporation announced the creation of MyNetworkTV to provide an alternative network for its O&O UPN affiliates on February 22, 2006. Ailes only learned of UPN's demise ten minutes before the official announcement.* He oversees the network under his position at the Fox Television Stations Group. The network officially debuted on September 5, 2006. Overview Footnotes Bibliography | |||||||
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