Roger Ailes

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Roger Eugene Ailes
Born May 15, 1940 (1940-05-15) (age 68)
Flag of the United States Warren, Ohio, United States
Occupation President of Fox News Channel
Chairman of Fox Television Stations Group
Salary $8.3 million [1]

Roger Eugene Ailes (born May 15, 1940) is the president of Fox News Channel and chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group. He was a media consultant for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, as well as Rudy Giuliani’s first mayoral campaign in 1989.[2]

Contents

[edit] Early life, education, and family

Born in Warren, Ohio, Ailes attended the Warren City School. Later, he was inducted into the Warren High Schools' Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. [3] Ailes graduated in 1962 from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, receiving a BA.[citations needed]

Ailes' second marriage was to Norma E. Ailes, who had been a television producer with Mission Media Ministries[4] The two raised one child, a daughter from Norma Ailes' earlier relationship, Shawn C. Ailes Visco Ferrer (born July 1968), now a television producer[5]

In July 1997, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Ailes was engaged to Elizabeth Tilson (born December 1960), whom he married on February 14, 1998. Formerly a television executive, she is now a homemaker. They have one son.[6]

[edit] Ohio University

In October 2007, Ailes gave a sizeable donation to Ohio University for a renovated student newsroom.[7]The new facility will double the size of the university's existing newsroom - last upgraded in the 1960s - and allow more students to participate in the school's WOUB radio station and television programs.

Ailes majored in radio and television while at Ohio University and served two years as manager of the school's radio station[8]. Since 1994 he has funded scholarships for Ohio University students in the school's telecommunications programs.[9]

Ailes said, "Ohio University ignited my interest in broadcasting, which became my lifetime career. The education I received there gave me the opportunity to take on my first managerial responsibilities and provided early lessons in leadership. I'm happy to contribute to a great university."[10]

[edit] Career

[edit] Early television

Ailes' career in television began in Cleveland, 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 in 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 the political spotlight.

[edit] Other ventures

Ailes founded Ailes Communications, Inc., in New York in 1969, and consulted for various businesses and politicians, including WCBS-TV. 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 four Obie Awards. He was executive producer for the television special The Last Frontier in 1974. He produced and directed a television special, Fellini: Wizards, Clowns and Honest Liars.

[edit] Political consulting

Ailes served as a political consultant for many Republican candidates during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. His first such job was as media advisor for the Nixon campaign in 1968. He returned to presidential campaigning as a consultant to Ronald Reagan in 1984. He is widely credited with having coached Reagan to victory in the second presidential debate with Walter Mondale.

In 1988 Ailes was credited (along with Lee Atwater) with guiding George H. W. Bush to a come-from-behind [11] victory over Michael Dukakis. He has been credited with scripting the infamous Willie Horton ad.[12] He has also been mistakenly credited with codirecting the ad, which in fact was directed and produced by the National Security Political Action Committee.[13]

Ailes did not work on the 1992 Bush campaign against Bill Clinton.

[edit] Later television

In 1984, Ailes won an Emmy Award as executive producer and director of a television special, Television and the Presidency.

In 1988, Ailes wrote a book with Jon Kraushar called 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 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 the 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, an hour-long talk show.

[edit] 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 his staff through five months of 14-hour workdays and several weeks of reacharound 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 United States and over 55 countries worldwide.

[edit] 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 [14] in January 2007. Ailes decided to cancel Geraldo at Large to move Rivera back on Fox News Channel.

Ailes also hired former CBS executive Dennis Swanson in October 2005. Swanson will be president of the Fox Television Stations Group. Additionally, there have 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 called The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet to be produced by Fox News Channel.

[edit] 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 10 minutes before the official announcement.[14] The network officially debuted on September 5, 2006 with a slate of telenovelas like Watch Over Me and Wicked Wicked Games, which received low ratings. The soap operas were phased out after a few months.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Ailes, Roger. "Attorney Style: Charisma in a Court Counts." The National Law Journal (New York), 21 July 1986. You Are the Message. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1987.
  • Ailes, Roger. "Campaign Strategy." Time (New York), 11 May 1992.
  • Ailes, Roger. "A Few Kind Words for Presenter Tip O'Neill." Advertising Age (New York), 8 January 1990.
  • Ailes, Roger. "How to Make a Good Impression." Reader's Digest (Pleasantville, New York), September 1989.
  • Ailes, Roger. "How to Make an Audience Love You." Working Woman (New York), November 1990.
  • Ailes, Roger. "The Importance of Being Likeable." Reader's Digest (Pleasantville, New York), May 1988. "Sam and Diane: Give 'em Time." Advertising Age (New York), 21 August 1989.
  • Ailes, Roger. "Lighten Up! Stuffed Shirts Have Short Careers." Newsweek (New York), 18 May 1992.
  • Ailes, Roger. "They Told the Truth...Occasionally." Adweek's Marketing Week (New York), 29 January 1990.
  • Ailes, Roger. YOU Are the Message: Getting What You Want by Being Who You Are (1989)
  • Angwin, Julia. "After Riding High With Fox News, Murdoch Aide Has Harder Slog" The Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2006;.
  • Barnes, Fred. "Pulling the Strings." The New Republic, 22 February 1988.
  • Devlin, Patrick L. "Contrasts in Presidential Campaign Commercials of 1988." American Behavioral Scientist, March-April 1989.
  • Hass, Nancy. "Roger Ailes: Embracing the Enemy." New York Times Magazine, 8 January 1995.
  • Miller, Stuart. "Roger Ailes Hits TV with a Rush." Variety , 21 June 1991.
  • Oneal, Michael. "Roger Ailes Fixed CNBC, But Now Ted Turner Looms." Business Week, 3 July 1995.
  • Wolinsky, Leo C. "Refereeing the TV Campaign." Washington Journalism Review, January-February 1991.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Ticker: Ailes, Cooper/Sheehan, 9/11.... The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
  2. ^ In Fox, Giuliani Finds a Friendly Stage. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
  3. ^ Warren High Schools' Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
  4. ^ http://www.877ourhope.org/missionmedia/MA-team.htm
  5. ^ http://www.mandy.com/home.cfm?c=ail003
  6. ^ http://www.nndb.com/people/449/000054287/
  7. ^ http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/07-08/October/173n.cfm
  8. ^ http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/07-08/October/173n.cfm
  9. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21579689/
  10. ^ http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/07-08/October/173n.cfm
  11. ^ New Polls Show Bush Shaves Dukakis Lead. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
  12. ^ http://www.insidepolitics.org/ps111/independentads.html
  13. ^ http://www.frankenlies.com/lies/ailes.htm
  14. ^ a b After Riding High With Fox News, Murdoch Aide Has Harder Slog. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.

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