As Fox News continues to celebrate 15 years, this is Sean Hannity day. Hannity has the rare distinction of being in the same Fox News timeslot — 9pmET — for all 15 years of the network’s life (the first 12 years alongside liberal counterpart Alan Colmes). The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter caught up with Hannity in Atlanta, where he hosted his show last Thursday:
Mr. Hannity had come to Atlanta not to stick it to CNN — though that proved to be fun, too — but to take note of a remarkable anniversary in the city where he was plucked by Roger Ailes out of relative obscurity 15 years ago, when the Fox News Channel was born.
As for whether he’d make it to another 15 on FNC, Hannity is coy. “I serve at the pleasure of the president of the company,” he said, referring to Ailes, whose contract runs through 2013. “If he leaves, I might leave.” Indeed, last week Ailes said, “If I still feel like this [his doctor told him his chart reads like that of a 40-year-old’s] and somebody offers me a job in June of ’13, I may just take it.”
Back to Hannity, he also got a visit from the hometown Atlanta Journal-Constitution during his Georgia stop. “Four of the greatest years of my life,” Hannity tells the AJC. “I can’t believe it’s been 15 years!”
(Photo: Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times)