Hardball celebrates 10 years on the air today, with a big DC bash tonight. (We’ll get the scoop from FishbowlDC‘s Patrick Gavin tomorrow). In a press release, MSNBC is touting Hardball’s “terrific growth” at 5pmET.
“Hardball is up 26% in total viewers (463,000 vs. 368,000) and up 20% in A25-54 (153,000 vs. 128,000) in September versus August 07.”
“Versus last year, Hardball was up 43% in total viewers at 5 p.m. (463,000 vs. 324,000) and up 27% at 7 p.m. (449,000 vs. 353,000), while both Fox News Channel and CNN saw declines in both hours.”
Click continued to read the press release…
MSNBC CELEBRATES A DECADE OF “HARDBALL WITH CHRIS MATTHEWSâ€
SECAUCUS, NJ – Oct. 4, 2007 – MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” celebrates ten years of political debate and take-no-prisoners interviews. “Hardball with Chris Matthews” premiered on CNBC in 1997, and on MSNBC in 1999. It was telecast on both CNBC and MSNBC through July 2002.
As the 2008 presidential election season heats up, “Hardball” continues to show terrific growth; at 5 p.m., “Hardball” is up 26% in total viewers (463,000 vs. 368,000) and up 20% in A25-54 (153,000 vs. 128,000) in September versus August 07. At 7 p.m. “Hardball” is up 13% versus August 07 (449,000 vs. 399,000) in viewers, and up 15% in the A25-54 demo (155,000 vs. 135,000).
Versus last year, “Hardball” was up 43% in total viewers at 5 p.m. (463,000 vs. 324,000) and up 27% at 7 p.m. (449,000 vs. 353,000), while both Fox News Channel and CNN saw declines in both hours. In the A25-54 demo, “Hardball” was up an impressive 13% over last year (153,000 vs. 136,000), and up 14% at 7 p.m. (155,000 vs. 136,000), while CNN and FNC tumbled in both of those time periods.
In addition to hosting “Hardball,” Matthews is also the host of “The Chris Matthews Show,” a syndicated weekly news program produced by NBC News and distributed by NBC Universal Television Distribution. Mr. Matthews is a regular commentator on NBC’s “Today” show.
A television news anchor with remarkable depth of experience, Matthews has distinguished himself as a broadcast journalist, newspaper bureau chief, Presidential speechwriter, and best-selling author. Matthews covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa and the Good Friday Peace Talks in Northern Ireland. In 1997 and 1998, his digging in the National Archives produced a series of San Francisco Examiner scoops on the Nixon presidential tapes. Matthews has covered American presidential election campaigns since 1988, including the five-week recount of 2000. In 2005 Matthews covered the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
In March 2004, he received the David Brinkley Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism. He has also been awarded The Abraham Lincoln Award from the Union League of Philadelphia and in 2005 he received the Gold Medal Award from the Pennsylvania Society.
Matthews worked for 15 years as a print journalist, 13 of them as Washington Bureau Chief for The San Francisco Examiner (1987 – 2000), and two years as a national columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle, which was syndicated to 200 newspapers by United Media.
Prior to that, Matthews spent 15 years in politics and government, working in the White House for four years under President Jimmy Carter as a Presidential speechwriter and on the President’s Reorganization Project, in the U.S. Senate for five years on the staffs of Senator Frank Moss (Utah) and Senator Edmund Muskie (Maine), and as the top aide to Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr. for six years.
Matthews is the author of five best-selling books, including the recently released “Life’s a Campaign” (2007) and “American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions” (2002), a New York Times best seller. His first book, “Hardball” (1988) is required reading in many college-level political science courses. “Kennedy & Nixon” (1996) was named by The Readers Digest “Today’s Best Non-fiction” and served as the basis of a documentary on the History Channel. “Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think” (2001) was another New York Times best-seller.
A graduate of Holy Cross College, Mr. Matthews did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Matthews also worked for two years as a trade development advisor with the U.S. Peace Corps in the southern African nation of Swaziland.
Matthews was a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Institute of Politics. He holds 18 honorary Ph.D.s.
Matthews is married to Kathleen Matthews. They have three children: Michael, Thomas and Caroline.
Built on the worldwide resources of NBC News, MSNBC defines news for the next generation with world-class reporting and a full schedule of live news coverage, political analysis and award-winning documentary programming — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. MSNBC’s home on the Internet is msnbc.com. Msnbc.com delivers a fuller spectrum of news. Drawing on its award-winning original journalism, NBC News heritage, trusted sources and Microsoft’s advanced technologies, the site presents compelling, diverse and visually-engaging stories on the consumer’s platform of choice. Nielsen/NetRatings reports more than 29 million unique visitors for August 2007, making msnbc.com the number one TV news site, ahead of ABC, CBS, and Fox News combined.