Fox News announced that longtime host Laura Ingraham will soon take over at 7:00 p.m., giving her what many believe to be a better primetime slot.
Ingraham spoke out about the new line-up and said she believes FOX’s revamped line-up is critical because “real Americans” need to be heard. Ingraham said she’s excited to lead off a primetime block that will focus on stories that truly matter when the new schedule debuts on July 17.
“I think about half of America feels like things have gone so crazy in politics and the culture that they have very few voices that represented them, or that speak to them and speak to the issues they care about,” Ingraham said.
“So, we’re going to try to do that every night, actually bring people stories that matter to their daily lives, and also that affect the future of the country and address them in ways that perhaps have been neglected,” she continued. “The dominant perspective for politics and culture is oftentimes at odds with the way most Americans really feel.”
Ingraham is a “conservative,proudly” but said she feels as if she can appeal to viewers on both sides of the aisle.
“I hold Republicans, Democrats accountable. I think everybody knows that about me. I’m a pretty straight talker,” she said. “We also want to entertain people, keep people entertained as they learn, and we love doing that.”
In a pres release the network revealed that Jesse Watters will take the 8 p.m. slot, directly replacing Carlson. Laura Ingraham will move from 10 p.m. to 7 p.m., Sean Hannity will stay at 9 p.m. and Greg Gutfeld will move to 10 p.m. Longtime news anchor Trace Gallagher will move up to 11 p.m.
Fox News veteran Trace Gallagher’s “Fox News @ Night” will now take over the 11 p.m. ET time slot starting on July 17. Gallagher, who has been with Fox since 1996, will be taking over Greg Gutfeld’s old time slot since he has been moved to primetime.
“It’s live, it’s live, it’s live,” Gallagher said. “Everything going on is live. So, that’s a big thing for our push to 11 p.m.… it’s 8 p.m. in California. People are still outside having dinner. It’s current. It’s now, we are still covering the news. The news day is still in progress.”
“11 p.m. traditionally across the country, regardless of where you are, 11:00 has been the news hour. That’s America’s news hour, right? Everybody knows the 11 o’clock news, you know, for local news,” Gallagher continued. “For us to be on at 8 p.m. in the West and 9 p.m. in Denver at 10 p.m. in Chicago and 11 p.m. in New York, it gives us a chance to capture audiences across the country and to become America’s late news for the entire country. That’s our goal.”
“A rotating cast of hosts stepped in to replace Carlson after he was abruptly fired from Fox News one week after it reached a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over the airing of 2020 election lies. The ratings dipped significantly from the Carlson era, who in his seven years helming Tucker Carlson Tonight emerged as a controversial but popular host at the network,” Mediaite reported.
“Watters joined Fox News two decades ago, working his way up from production assistant to on-air commentator on Bill O’Reilly’s hit prime-time show. In recent years, he has become one of the most-watched personalities on the network, as co-host of the top-rated show The Five and solo host of his own program Watters’ World, which debuted in the 7 p.m. slot in 2022,” the outlet added. “Perhaps the biggest shake-up is moving the top-rated late-night show Gutfeld from 11 PM to an hour earlier.”
Since being taken off the air, Carlson has begun posting short monologues to Twitter, which Fox says is a violation of his contract.
The network has sent him a cease-and-desist letter, though so far, he has refused to do so, arguing that Fox violates their contract with him.