Liz Claman talks FOX Business’ origin, struggles, and rise to the top
Anchor Liz Claman looks back at 15 years of FOX Business.
Fox Business Network launched on October 15, 2007 as America was on the precipice of a financial crisis, and a unique approach to covering business news that prioritizes Main Street as much as Wall Street has helped the network thrive as it celebrates its 15th anniversary on Saturday.
"Fox Business is, in my opinion, a living television miracle, and I'm not being overly dramatic here. I truly mean it because we have so many moments that we can remember, especially all of the originals, where we were just flying by the seat of our pants," longtime anchor Liz Claman told Fox News Digital
She explained that FBN "went up in the air like an airplane, but we were still riveting the wings on," so Claman and other original hosts weren't exactly ready.
"But we just went for it. And 15 years later, it is such an honor to even think back to some of these hilarious memories. I mean, we really, at certain points couldn't get a single stock chart up and we would sit there. David Asman and I and Charles [Payne] and Neil Cavuto, we would just talk and talk and talk and do the best we could," Claman said.
Fox Business Network President Lauren Petterson and the network's stars celebrated FBN's 15th anniversary by ringing the Nasdaq opening bell. (FOX)
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But Claman and other FBN hosts weren’t only talking to each other, and she was able to land billionaire investor Warren Buffett her first day on the air.
"We were able to convince him, and it didn't even take that much effort to convince him, that Fox Business, a Fox network that was going to focus on business, was going to – maybe not immediately, but going to be worthy someday… and he was smart enough to know to do that," Claman said.
Claman believes much of the success stems from the network’s ability to land Fortune 500 CEOs, Treasury secretaries, and just about every key newsmaker from the financial sector despite attempts from other business networks to keep influential guests away.
"There was this was a line that they used to say, ‘There are more people in your building lobby than there are watching Fox Business,' but guess what? What our competitors did not take into account is, No. 1, you don't tell winners, people who have made it to the top of their industries, or the top of government, how and where to get their message out," Claman said. "No. 2, they didn't take into account that it is not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. We may have been the Chihuahua to start, and they were the Great Danes, but we had so much fight."
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Liz Claman has been with Fox Business Network since it launched in 2007.
Fox Business Network has come a long way since then and recently ended the third quarter of 2022 with a larger Business Day audience than CNBC for the second straight quarter. Claman said she’s proud of just about everything the network has done over the past 15 years, but one accomplishment truly stands out.
"It's when we finally started winning. It's when we finally started beating CNBC," she said.
"I mean, they were the Goliath and we were the David. And in 2018, we just covered the presidential election better and from a better business standpoint than anybody else was," she continued. "And we were rewarded for that by viewers who were craving exactly that, and to have started in 2007 and taken all those years to finally get that recognition, I was levitating… I still am."
Neil Cavuto believes Fox Business Network’s "no-nonsense, no-jargon" approach to covering the business news helped democratized an entire industry. (FOX)
While Claman pointed to ratings success, Charles Payne, another original Fox Business Network host, struggled to think of a specific moment that he considers the most memorable
"It’s hard for me to pick, there have been so many of them that have stood out, particularly over the time period that we’ve been on because we came on during a crisis, and you know, we had one crisis and then we had another crisis… and now we’re in another crisis," Payne said. "No joke, it just feels like each day stands out in its own sort of way."
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Payne believes Fox Business Network has thrived because it acts like a news network and "puts the viewer first," and related to all Americans instead of solely targeting Wall Street investors.
"We're not there just speaking jargon to each other, trying to impress each other. And I think that's really one of the things that separates it from what's out there," Payne said.
Claman said she always knew FBN would eventually prevail because it was a superior product, but the support of FOX Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch is what truly put the network on the map.
"Never once in the years where we were not winning, we were floundering… never once did he say, ‘You guys, if you don't make this happen, I'm pulling the plug,’" Claman said. "We watched as other networks went dark… they don't have the vision that Rupert Murdoch does. And never once did he say, ‘I'm done. This isn't working.’ He knew it takes time and it takes persistence, and as long as we were all throwing everything we had at it, he was going to stick by us. And I am so grateful that he did it."
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As Fox Business celebrates 15 years on the air, Payne is already thinking about the next decade and a half.
"For investors watching financial media, they're going to want to see over the next 15 years some of the promises come to fruition, because we just really had individual investors only get involved in the market in mass in the 1970s, thanks to Charles Schwab and some of the things that he did that were initially lower commission and then now you have the commissions that are even a lot lower than that. But then you had all these amazing products that have been put out there, mutual funds, exchange traded funds, packaged products, and they all came with promises," Payne said.
"And they're about 20-something old right now. I don't know that the majority of them are living up to the initial hype, but Americans have bought it to the tune of trillions of dollars. And so I think over the next 10 to 15 years, Americans are going to be inclined to invest more. To buy into the story more. They want a piece of the action, and they should. They're also going to be on the lookout for the payoff," Payne continued, predicting new ways for people to make fortunes. "I think it's going to be an exciting time. We're in the fourth industrial revolution."
FBN's Charles Payne has been with the network since it launched on October 15, 2007. (fox news)
Fox Business Network President Lauren Petterson and many of the network's stars – including Claman and Payne – celebrated FBN's 15th anniversary by ringing the NASDAQ opening bell on Friday morning.
Earlier this month, Fox Business announced the return of its popular programming lineup, FBN Prime, that will continue to celebrate success stories across key American industries.
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