After Megyn Kelly’s Departure, Tucker Carlson Takes 9 P.M. Slot On Fox News

January 5, 2017

Tucker Carlson will be taking over the 9 p.m. ET time slot on the Fox News Channel, stepping in for departing host Megyn Kelly.

Kelly is leaving Fox News for NBC, where she will host a daytime show and a Sunday evening news show.

The change, as NPR’s David Folkenflik notes on Twitter, would seem to make Fox News’ prime-time lineup more friendly toward President-elect Donald Trump.

CNN’s Brian Stelter writes that the new schedule from 8 p.m. on — with Bill O’Reilly, Carlson and finally Sean Hannity — will give Fox “an all-white-male prime time lineup for the first time in its twenty-year history.”

Carlson recently began hosting Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox at 7 p.m. — the show just launched in November. In a statement, Fox News praised the show’s performance in the ratings as “consistently strong.”

The 7 p.m. slot will be taken over by Martha MacCallum, co-host of America’s Newsroom, for the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency.

Carlson was a print journalist in the ’90s, writing for publications such as The Weekly Standard and Esquire. He began his television career with CNN, where he co-hosted The Spin Room and Crossfire. More recently, he co-founded the conservative news website The Daily Caller; he stepped down as an editor to focus on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Carlson has occasionally spoken to NPR in the role of a commentator, usually alongside commentator Cokie Roberts.

Update at 2:45 p.m. ET: Another media move

Former Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren is moving to MSNBC. She will host a 6 p.m. ET weeknight show called For the Record with Greta, which will debut on Monday. MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in a statement that Van Susteren’s “broad range of experience and sharp news judgment will be of great value to MSNBC as we build on our momentum going into a new year and a new administration.”

Van Susteren left Fox News in September 2016.