CNBC Premieres Worldwide Exchange

CNBC premiered Worldwide Exchange, “the first live, worldwide daily business news program,” at 4am ET today. The two-hour program is anchored by Michelle Caruso-Cabrera in New York, Ross Westgate in London and Christine Tan in Singapore.

“Hello and welcome to CNBC’s World Exchange. This is the first edition of our new program that is being seen by CNBC viewers around the world,” they said, then started reading business headlines. Caruso-Cabrera said “here in the United States” four times in the first ten minutes.

In the first hour, the anchors tossed to each other frequently. They took turns quizzing guests and introducing segments. Caruso-Cabrera seemed to play a slightly smaller role than Westgate and Tan.

The program provided a first look at CNBC’s new look. The new backgrounds are very blue. Charts are placed on top of a transparent green CNBC logo. The lower-thirds include an omnipresent show logo, a headline and a blue space for text.

A new global ticker is stripped along the top of the screen. (Westgate pointed to the lower right corner of the screen and said “all that data that used to be here has gone up here.”) It features rotating pieces of data, three at a time, including market prices, utilities, futures, and weather forecasts. Other thoughts:

> The short theme music is dramatic and attention-grabbing. The open includes a map identifying Exchange’s three anchor locations…

> The “global stock watch,” featuring reports from Hong Kong, Singapore, London and Frankfurt in rapid succession, was impressive…

> Wolf Blitzer could learn a thing or two from Westgate’s use of the giant “Worldwide Exchange” board in London…

> Update: 11:35am: An e-mailer says: “Worldwide Exchange was VERY impressive I must say. It isn’t an easy feat to put together a LIVE international show, but CNBC pulled it off extremely well with no noticable glitches, awkward moments, time-lags etc. But most importantly, the show was very informative, fast-paced and easy to follow.”