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A new face will be joining Fox News’ morning show, “Fox & Friends,” according to an announcement on the program Thursday morning.
First reported by People magazine, the show’s current co-hosts said that Lawrence Jones will be joining the morning line-up.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled today,” Jones told his new morning colleagues, Ainsley Earnhardt and Brian Kilmeade, in addition to fill-in co-host Pete Hegseth. “I started on Fox & Friends when I was 20 — it was my [first] national TV appearance. At 30, this is the opportunity of the [lifetime].”
Earnhardt praised Jones effusively, saying: “We’ve been so proud of you. We’ve watched all of this progress. You’re one of the nicest people. You love the Lord. You love the South, you love Texas, your family. You just fit right in.”
Gavin Hadden, Fox News’ senior vice president of morning programming, said in a statement: “Lawrence has his finger on the pulse of what matters to communities across America and his insight has proved invaluable to the FOX & Friends audience. We look forward to welcoming him to our family as he wakes up America alongside our star co-hosts each morning.”
Mediaite added: The Saturday night timeslot previously hosted by Jones will be turned over to Brian Kilmeade — whose show will move back one hour to make way for a new Saturday night edition of Life, Liberty & Levin, hosted by Mark Levin.”
Levin’s program will now air at 8 p.m. Eastern on both Saturday and Sunday, according to Fox News. On September 16th, the new Saturday night airing will begin, and further changes to the weekend programming will be made at a later time, the network added.
Fox News Announces Lawrence Jones as New ‘Fox & Friends’ Co-Host https://t.co/z1BAMsscba
— People (@people) September 14, 2023
“Since joining the network in 2017, Mark has provided our audience with thought-provoking analysis on America’s core values and their impact on current events,” said Meade Cooper, executive vice president of primetime programming at Fox News, in a statement. “We are looking forward to expanding his popular show to two nights a week.”
“Fox News said ‘Life, Liberty & Levin’ is the highest-rated primetime program in cable news on Sundays, averaging 1.4 million viewers and 104,000 in the 25-54 demographic, the audience most coveted by advertisers,” Variety reported.
“Levin is also a host of ‘The Mark Levin Show,’ one of the nation’s largest syndicated radio programs, which airs on more than 300 stations across the country. Levin served in the Reagan administration, and worked as an associate director of presidential personnel, deputy solicitor of the U.S. Department of Interior, and deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, among other positions,” the outlet added.
The network has been under an increased amount of scrutiny after taking its prime-time star, Tucker Carlson, off the air in the latter part of April.
Because of that decision, Fox has shed a huge portion of its viewers, with many of them having bolted to Newsmax and other conservative outlets.
Since Carlson’s departure, weekend hosts Dan Bongino and, most recently, Steve Hilton have either chosen to leave (in Bongino’s case — after failing to come to terms on a new contract) or have been taken off the air, all of which have led to some major changes on the weekend, especially.
“We are excited to launch a new dynamic weekend line-up that will further solidify our position as the number one cable news network for more than two decades,” Albano said in the release. “We thank Steve Hilton for his show’s contributions and look forward to continuing to feature his valuable insights across our daytime and prime-time programming.”
All said, however, according to the latest ratings figures, Fox News is still dominating cable news; the network remained the most-watched in all of cable news throughout the summer.
