About a year ago, a fax arrived at CNBC's studios from His Royal Highness Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud, whom "Fortune" magazine once identified as probably "the richest businessman in the world outside the U.S."
According to that fax, His Royal Highness was "scheduled to be in the Caribbean on his private yacht ... between March 19-28, 1999. The signal of CNBC is not strong enough for the onboard equipment to receive it. Therefore, we need to relay your signal on our private transponder." The letter assured CNBC that "the signal will be used solely by HRH himself while on board his yacht so he can keep current with the performance of the financial markets. HRH relies heavily on CNBC to keep track of his portfolio."
"I was sure that the letter was some kind of a joke," says CNBC President Bill Bolster. A couple of quick phone calls proved otherwise.
Permission was granted for the retransmission, and Bolster promptly received a personal thank-you from HRH that read: "As an international investor I find that CNBC is a true real-time delivery channel with a multitude of value-added services ... I am always on the lookout for new business opportunities and CNBC is always of great assistance to me in that field ... This is the reason behind my addiction to CNBC."
While riding the wave of American prosperity, CNBC has done something that is little acknowledged or understood. The network's daytime business coverage has redefined TV news, defying every convention of the past 30 years. (CNBC's daytime coverage runs separately from its evening fare, which is dominated by talk shows with hosts such as "Geraldo Rivera" and "Chris Matthews.")
Whereas most TV news is dumb, CNBC is smart: Its on-air people are smart, its coverage is smart, the questions that people ask are smart -- even the jokes are smart. There's conflict and disagreement and confusion but never shouting.
At CNBC, information is king. Everything else bends to its will. So on-air talent is chosen for experience and intelligence. How people look is secondary to how they think. Bill Griffeth? Mark Haines? Ron Insana? They all got their jobs for qualities other than head-turning physical features. Even those with classic TV appeal often were hired for something other than their appearance. David Faber, who has a degree in English from Tufts University and the good looks of a movie star, spent seven years writing and editing financial newsletters before arriving at CNBC. Joe Kernen, who is well known to many viewers as an MIT-educated molecular biologist (his master's thesis was published in "Cell" and in "Developmental Biology") and who has the rakish appeal of Harrison Ford, spent 10 years as a stockbroker. Both men were hired for their off-camera experience.
Information is such a priority at CNBC that the network does something never before attempted on TV: math. Information means numbers, percentages, graphs. Rarely do two minutes pass without a chart appearing onscreen. Math as compelling TV -- what a concept!
And while most TV news programs -- both local and network -- are as carefully scripted and produced as a Broadway show, CNBC has a work-in-progress feel of immediacy, wit, and freshness. Information takes priority, even over the TV show itself. No one cares when Maria Bartiromo leans out of camera range to check an opening price on the floor of the NYSE: She's getting a bit of information. No one cares if Kernen turns away from a camera: He's double-checking a P/E on a computer.
CNBC has departed from all other TV news in another crucial way. Whereas most TV news has little relevance to viewers -- a story about a murder won't help you avoid getting killed -- CNBC has one criterion for almost everything that it broadcasts: Is it useful? That means that CNBC is less a business-news network than a market-news network. A private company -- even a large, important one -- gets no coverage, while a tiny dotcom that's going public gets plenty.
"Our viewers aren't actually viewers," says Bruno Cohen, 48, CNBC's senior vice president for business news. "They're users. Other networks ask, 'What's of interest?' We ask, 'What's actionable about a piece of information?' Why would you watch us if you weren't involved in equities, or if you didn't have investments? There's certainly more entertaining programming on the air." Adds Mark Haines: "The kinds of information that we provide actually matter in a concrete, measurable way. Local news, on the other hand, is mostly about what doesn't matter."
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