Fox News dedicates premier New York City studio to founder Rupert Murdoch as it marks 25th anniversary

Fox Corporation chairman and News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch and Fox Corporation Executive Chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch

Fox News Channel dedicated its premier New York City studio to network founder Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday with an intimate, surprise celebration as the network continues to commemorate its 25th anniversary. 

Murdoch, a global media mogul who is Fox Corporation chairman and News Corp executive chairman, launched Fox News in 1996. 

"As part of our 25th anniversary celebration this month, it is my great pleasure to announce the dedication of FOX News Channel’s premier studio to our founder Keith Rupert Murdoch. Our grand state-of-the-art Studio F in New York will be known from this day forward as Studio M in his honor," FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in a company-wide memo.  

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"A plaque designating the new name was unveiled in a small surprise ceremony this afternoon with Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch to celebrate Rupert’s extraordinary vision," Scott added. "We are all eternally grateful for his tremendous leadership, unyielding support and indelible impact." 

Murdoch's ascent began in Australia in the early 1950s when he took control of the family's Australian company, News Limited, in the early 1950s. The Murdoch media empire soon expanded worldwide. He acquired Perth's Sunday Times and Sydney's Daily Mirror and by the 1960s purchased United Kingdom-based News of the World and the Sun newspapers.

He expanded to the United States in the early 1970s, adding a plethora of newspapers – including the New York Post – to his portfolio.

Fox Corporation co-chairman and News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch was honored on Wednesday as part of Fox News’ 25th anniversary celebration.

Murdoch eventually founded the media holding company, News Corporation, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1985. But, he wasn’t finished building his empire and purchased the Twentieth Century Fox movie studio, launched the Fox Network and later created Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network.

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Fox News, which debuted on October 7, 1996, began as a vision by Murdoch that was quickly dismissed by critics. At the time, FOX had seen phenomenal growth in entertainment programming, children’s content and in sports offerings, but the company lacked a relevant news organization.

Rupert Murdoch announced his vision for Fox News Channel a few months before it launched in 1996. 

Launching Fox News from scratch was costly and risky, but Murdoch expected success. 

"I think you will find as more news channels, and particularly our news channel, appear the audience will increase greatly," Murdoch told reporters months before Fox News officially launched. 

A quarter of a century later, anyone who doubted Murdoch’s confidence has been proven wrong. 

Fox News recently finished the third quarter of 2021 as the most-watched network in all of basic cable among both total day and primetime viewers. It has now topped cable news for 79 straight quarters and finished No. 1 in basic cable for seven straight quarters as Americans turn to Murdoch’s network for news and analysis.  

"His legacy in revolutionizing the entire media landscape and creating the FOX News Channel will continue to have enduring significance for all who work, visit and broadcast from Studio M," Scott said to conclude the memo. 

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Rupert Murdoch holding up a copy of the New York Post in 1978. (File)

Brit Hume, Sean Hannity, Trace Gallagher, Jon Scott, Neil Cavuto, Steve Doocy, Arthel Nevel, Eric Shawn and Lauren Green have been with Fox News since it launched, while stars including Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade, Greg Gutfeld, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Dan Perino, Chris Wallace, Bill Hemmer and Harris Faulkner have joined along the way. Many of them work in the newly named Studio M, where "FOX & Friends," "The Faulkner Focus," "Outnumbered," "The Story with Martha MacCallum," "The Five" and all election coverage are housed. 

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Fox News Channel produced a series of short-form vignettes from network favorites, celebrities and regular guests to commemorate its 25th anniversary. The short video messages have aired on Fox News Media platforms for the month of October as more than 50 Fox News personalities and founding employees reflect on their time with the network. 

"I remember reading about the launch of this channel in the trades and thinking to myself, ‘I got to find a way to get in here,'" Kilmeade, who joined the network in 1997, said in his vignette. 

A quarter-century later, Kilmeade will now co-anchor "FOX & Friends" from the studio dedicated to Murdoch.

FOX Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch’s oldest son, Lachlan, is now Executive Chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation. 

Earlier this month, Scott was joined by Fox News Channel founding anchors and members of its senior leadership team to ring Nasdaq’s Opening Bell to kick of anniversary festivities. The Washington, D.C., bureau recently had a special anniversary ceremony to unveil its newly renovated space, complete with two new flagship studios, a high-resolution technology platform video and graphics, and a reconfigured newsroom. 

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The D.C. bureau also features two spaces dedicated to beloved late members of the Fox News Channel family. The Charles Krauthammer greenroom honors the longtime columnist, a fixture on the "Special Report" panel who died in 2018 from cancer, and the Tony Snow radio studio salutes the former "Fox News Sunday" host who died in 2008, also from cancer.

FOX News Media continues to expand and now has eight platforms, including FOX News Books, FOX News International, FOX Nation and FOX Weather, which launched on Monday. 

Fox News' David Rutz contributed to this report.