When the curtain rises on Deirdre Bolton’s Fox Business show at 1pmET this afternoon, it will be new territory for the network. “Risk and Reward” will explore alternative investment strategies, a clear break from business news’ traditional focus on equities.
“There is not another show like this anywhere on TV, so I’m very excited about that,” Bolton tells TVNewser. “It’s the only one on.”
Like Maria Bartiromo’s new FBN show, “Risk and Reward” will feature longer interviews with industry leaders, usually at the top of the show. The second half will “move a little quicker,” Bolton says. One segment she is particularly excited about is “Elevator Pitch,” which will put a real-life entrepreneur in front of a panel of judges who are potential investors.
In addition to being a unique component of FBN’s recently revamped lineup, Bolton’s show has the additional challenge of covering alternative investment strategies while not ignoring the news of the day.
“There are going to be some headlines that we have to cover because we’re on during market hours, but for the most part, I’m going to be in my wheelhouse,” she says. “That is the goal and that is a challenge. I think [my producers are] up to it and I’m certainly up to it. Every single story out there has an alternative asset angle.”
In recent weeks, Bolton and her team have been putting in 16-hour days to do the “heavy lifting” required to get the show ready to go on the air. But in some ways, Bolton — who worked in finance before she joined Bloomberg — has been preparing for this show for her entire career.
“I already knew how capital markets worked long before I went on TV. That’s fantastically helpful,” she said. “[Before I worked in television] I was in equities, and in many ways, the job is not that different in the sense that I had to read and process a large amount of material.”
Bolton, who worked at Bloomberg TV for 10 years, said she decided to make the career change after a 45-minute conversation with Roger Ailes, who recognized her expertise in alternative assets and asked if she could build an FBN show around the topic.
“Change is often based on your own sense of timing and when something feels right. Timing is important,” Bolton says. “Like every other person in this industry, I’ve had other offers. But what I liked about FBN right now is that it’s clearly building its brand. It’s expanding. It’s investing.”