WSW: Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street Summary & Discussion $treet
- SteveT
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- stocksystm
- SteveT
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» SteveT - NY Times article
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/09/nyregi...Eulogies? No, the Smart Money's Still on a 'Kid' of 69
By ROBIN FINN
GREENWICH, Conn.
ALL alone, and temporarily unemployed, Louis Rukeyser, the deposed host of "Wall Street Week," the money-as-mantra PBS chat-fest that pioneered its genre in 1970, is rattling around his palatial Georgian colonial waiting for the phone to ring.
The news could be bad: his wife of 40 years, Alexandra, is an ocean away on the Isle of Man tending to a gravely ill parent. Or the news could be good: any minute his lawyers could call to confirm that a new home has been found for his program. In investing, as in life, Mr. Rukeyser insists, "pessimism is the losing strategy." He's raring to return.
"It's just down to a few details, and I'm thinking we could be back on the air by the end of the month," he says, sinking into a wing chair in a formal parlor where some dozen chairs and settees hold needlepoint pillows depicting Cavalier King Charles spaniels, his favorite breed. (He once had six spaniels scampering through the house; now he just has the pillows.) Mr. Rukeyser likens the Maryland Public Television executives who canned him to feline ingrates, calling their tactics "low-grade farce."
On a more pleasant farcical note, he judges the tail-wagging contest at the local dog show. "It requires the judgment of Solomon and the diplomacy of Colin Powell," he says, confident he possesses both, along with a no-nonsense knack for spotting economic trends and sizing up stocks.
"If you say the word `economics' to the average person, it's pretty true that their eyelids get heavy, but if you say `money,' their eyes open up and their nostrils flare. I never regarded money as the focus of life; I have never in my life made a career decision for financial reasons," he says. "I learned the best way to keep money in perspective is to gain a knowledge of how to handle it."
That's why his newsletters are hot sellers, as are his two yearly cruises and his annual investment conference in Las Vegas. He says endless speaking engagements and canny investing (he takes his own advice and has yet to lose his shirt), not public television, bought this mansion on four acres, the pair of Mercedes-Benzes in the garage, the swell vintages in the wine cellar. "It won't be necessary to hold any benefits for me," he says. "Many people have prematurely eulogized me: I'm still a kid, and I've got lots more to do."
It's his feelings, not his finances or future, that took a beating last month when the brass at Maryland Public Television informed him that their idea of reinventing the show he invented 32 years ago was to remove him as host and insert a team from Fortune magazine when his contract expires in June. When he let his viewers in on the plan on March 22, MPT locked the studio door behind him a tad early. Litigation is in the air. So are sour grapes: Mr. Rukeyser chuckles ruthlessly while noting that his 22 regular panelists snubbed MPT's attempt to enlist their expertise on a Lou-less show.
Still, there are bags beneath his "baby blues," and his posture, in lapsed moments, is stooped inside his fancy Brioni suit ? the Fashion Foundation of America calls Mr. Rukeyser, an off-the-rack Barneys shopper, the best-dressed man in finance. Then there's the antique hairdo. When his hair was darker and longer, male viewers often critiqued it. His reply: "Thank you for trying to approve my appearance, but I do not have my hair cut to please other men."
HE can't decide whether to be indignant or amused that, in the stressed weeks since he broadcast his final program, his craggy 69-year-old face is sprouting blemishes of a sort last glimpsed, and battled, as a teenager. How dare the Maryland executives imply that his demeanor and demographics are over the hill: he's got letters from fans in their 20's and 30's "furious with the notion that they're callow idiots who need MTV to show them how to invest."
His father, the syndicated columnist Merryle Stanley Rukeyser, was a "boy wonder" of financial journalism, and by 11, with an assignment from The Standard Star in New Rochelle, N.Y., Mr. Rukeyser was following in dad's footsteps. He got his first paycheck at 16, was president of the Princeton Press Club, and joined The Baltimore Sun, as a political and later a foreign correspondent in London and Asia, after graduation in 1954. His starting salary was $55 a week. In 1965 he left The Sun for an overseas assignment at ABC News and in 1968 became that network's first national economic commentator.
"The smart guys said it was a stupid career move, a dead end," Mr. Rukeyser recalls.
In 1970, he began, with ABC's permission, a 30-week moonlighting stint for PBS as host of "Wall Street Week With Louis Rukeyser." Three years later he left ABC and concentrated on marketing himself. It worked then. He can't imagine it won't work now.
When the show marked its 30th anniversary with a Carnegie Hall gala in November 2000 and PBS executives didn't attend, he celebrated without them. "A reporter said, `Lou, you've given birth to an entire industry,' " he recalls, eager to charm despite keeping one ear tuned to the upstairs phone, "And I said, `Heck, I don't even have stretch marks.' "
-- posted by SteveT
» JeffChristy - LOU on CNBC
Lou will be on CNBC starting Friday 19 April in the same time slot as that pathetic show on PBS.Louis Rukeyser will join CNBC; Koppel stays on at ABC
Address:http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.as...
-- posted by JeffChristy
» bob90245 - Re: LOU on CNBC
In response to message posted by JeffChristy:http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.as...
On 'Wall Street,' high noon is at 8:30
Commentary: Rukeyser, CNBC & GE vs. AOL Time Warner
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - The 1952 movie "High Noon" was a classic and it remains a metaphor for our times. Listen up, all of you followers of "Wall Street Week" and Louis Rukeyser.
The film, says a Web site called Filmsite.org, tells the tale of a "lone, stoic, honor-bound marshal/hero who was left desolate and abandoned by the Hadleyville townspeople he was sworn to protect, thereby sparing the civilized town the encroachment of barbaric frontier justice..."
Granted, Rukeyser, an urbane, silver-haired wordsmith who sometimes seems equally bloated in body and ego, will never be confused with the likes of Gary Cooper, the lean, rugged hero in "High Noon" (and, while we're at it, Rukeyser will never be described as stoic, either).
But American TV viewers will get a confrontation worthy of "High Noon" tonight at 8:30 Eastern. That's when Rukeyser returns to television with the debut of "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" on CNBC (GE: news, chart, profile).
Television wars
Rukeyser's new show kicks off the latest chapter in the television wars and it will test the value of star power in the media. It also underscores the many challenges facing AOL Time Warner, the world's largest media and Internet company, as it tries, once again, to extend its brand name to affluent Americans.
Finally, the arrival of Rukeyser also may turn out to be a godsend for CNBC, a unit of General Electric, which has tried resolutely -- but not very successfully -- to establish a beachhead in primetime TV.
Rukeyser, remember, was abruptly shoved off "Wall Street Week," the popular program he hosted for 32 years - on Friday nights at 8:30. He was truly left desolate and abandoned by Maryland Public Television, the employer he was sworn to protect, thereby sparing civilized investors the encroachment of AOL Time Warner (AOL: news, chart, profile). AOL's Fortune magazine is now shaping the Rukeyser-less "Wall Street Week."
Geoffrey Colvin, a top editor, will be one of the two new anchors of "Wall Street Week with Fortune," as the show is being re-named, beginning June 29. The other host has yet to be named.
"Wall Street Week" has terrific reach to wealthy Americans, who avidly follow the stock market. AOL Time Warner would like to cross-market its flagship online service and such magazines as Fortune and Money to them and its connection to the new show gives them this opportunity.
Friday showdown
Will Rukeyser's audience follow him to his new digs?
Rukeyser had a steady audience of a few million viewers each week. Whether the stock market was up or down or sideways, Maryland Public Television could count on those viewers every Friday night. They tuned into see and hear Rukeyser preen, discourse, pontificate, explain, praise and dismiss news, trends and fads with a characteristic twinkle in his eye and good-natured wit.
(For the record, my favorite "Wall Street Week" episode aired in the summer of 1989 when Rukeyser scored the coup of assembling a panel consisting of Citigroup (C: news, chart, profile) Chairman Sandy Weill, Charles Schwab, the head of the company bearing his name, and noted securities industry analyst, the late Perrin Long. I still have a videotape of that show).
Maryland Public Television wanted to update the Rukeyser. Now it will get the chance.
"There was never anything wrong with PBS wanting to change and update Rukeyser's show," said Robert Thompson, a professor at Syracuse University who specializes in television. "You could practically hear the ticker-tape in the background."
The notion of Rukeyser opposing Colvin & Co. is only one juicy showdown. Rukeyser's new pals at CNBC, and its parent company of General Electric, are also opposing MPT's new buddies at AOL Time Warner. These foes are old rivals, as AOL Time Warner's "Moneyline" on CNN also goes up against CNBC weekday nights.
Rukeyser was so noticeably angry at his former employer when he appeared recently on "Larry King Live," on AOL Time Warner's CNN network, that he did everything but put a pox on Maryland Public Television's house.
For its part, CNBC has been trying very hard to publicize the arrival of Rukeyser. It has been airing advertisements for the "LEGENDARY" Rukeyser (CNBC's word) throughout the week, seemingly as often as it has posted the prices of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq.
In case you've forgotten about Rukeyser since he last hosted "Wall Street Week" a few weeks ago, CNBC said in a news release that he "will begin the program with his acclaimed personal commentary, offering his inimitable blend of wit and wisdom." (If I ever win a Nobel Prize, I want CNBC's publicists to write the speech that introduces me).
The executives at Maryland Public Television prefer to shrug off Rukeyser's departure.
Jeff Hankin, a spokesman for Maryland Public Television, said: "The ratings have been holding very steady" since Rukeyser left and "there has been an increase in positive responses since we started using guest hosts." (Full disclosure time: One of the guest hosts has been Marshall Loeb, a senior columnist for CBS MarketWatch.com).
For the first show on CNBC, Rukeyser is bringing out the heavy artillery. His special guest is none other than Abby Joseph Cohen of Goldman Sachs (GS: news, chart, profile), arguably the most famous stock market strategist on Wall Street as well as the most bullish equities analyst anywhere.
The CNBC show has underwriters and no commercials, like all those years at Maryland Public Television. "It's going extremely well," said CNBC spokeswoman Alison Rudnick. She declined to offer any details about the underwriters for the show.
Rukeyser's new venture is no slam-dunk, in terms of success, despite his massive popularity and pedigree. It's always a risk to change networks for an established TV veteran. Viewers, like everyone else, are creatures of habit and Rukeyser's fans may or may not slavishly follow him to a new channel.
Rukeyser may find a smaller audience than before because his show is appearing on a cable TV channel on Friday nights. It will also be shown at 8:30 Pacific on CNBC.
In addition, Public Broadcasting stations can air the Rukeyser show beginning at midnight. It'll be distributed by WLIW, a public broadcasting station out of Long Island.
"The Rukeyser show is a form of entertainment," said Thompson of Syracuse University. "It shouldn't be preserved in a museum. Financial programming seems to belong on CNBC. But PBS had tradition on its side."
Thompson expects CNBC to benefit from having Rukeyser on its show - but it may take time to see the results.
"My guess is that the Rukeyser show's ratings numbers will be a little lower than they had been," Thompson said. "A lot of people who watched him on 'Wall Street Week' every Friday night will have to find CNBC on their cable dial. Now CNBC will have a signature show on primetime. If the new show is good, CNBC wins. It all depends on the content."
Media Web Question of the Week: Which show will you watch, "Wall Street Week" or "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street?" E-mail me at jfriedman@marketwatch.com and let me know.
Jon Friedman is media editor for CBS.MarketWatch.com in New York.
-- posted by bob90245
» Kirk - Contrasts
To:Mike M who wrote (2361)
From: Chip McVickar Tuesday, Apr 23, 2002 10:39 AM
View Replies (1) | Respond to of 2363
Mike.... Louis Rukeyser introduced a reincarnated Friday night Wall Street show on CNBC. We bulls have so little to hang our hats on...! How long....? Till the cows come home.
Gotta be Bullish....!
At least he asks the right questions.
Two of his guests were a study in contrasts.
Marty Zweig, He's bullish again, but with caution.
On the other end of the ego spectrum, Abby J. Cohen is an unrepentant permabull. http://www.markpoyser.com/reports/cohenf...
Especially since Alan G is only going to be around for another year.
-- posted by Kirk
» Kirk - First Show Summary
It looked like his old show with an even better set.
His panel consisted of his favorites who often host for him when he is on vacation: Mary, Marty and Frank. Abby J Cohen was the guest of honor and Lou told us Abby still takes the bus to work in Manhattan.
Nobody was too excited about owning tech but several liked one of my favorites, AMAT. Abby said the market was under valued and she is sticking to her targets released 9/24/01.
The show had no commercials and they said they plan to sell it to PBS so write your local PBS station and request they carry this show rather than the old show that gave Lou the boot. I tried to watch that show also and fell asleep. I still have it on tape but don't see any reason to watch it.
We need a better summary writer here than me until Steve either gets cable or they get the show on his local PBS station.
-- posted by Kirk
» stocksystm - The Most Entertaining Part
of Rukeyser's show was when he commented that Frank Cappielo's lip looked like a botox injection gone bad. Frank was definitely not amused or it went over his head.Abby Cohen continued to look like a big money puppet indicating that all is well and maintaining her silly targets. She even had the gall to suggest that she had underweighted tech in 2000.
-- posted by stocksystm
» SteveT - Surprise!
Surprise! My local PBS station has picked up Lou's new show and will air it as long as they continue to offer it with out commercial interruption. Speaking of crass commercialism I noticed the CNBC version does have many of the same underwriters as well as panelists and long time guests. The set and format changed little from the PBS show. Here we go.Lou opened with a monologue theme pertaining to this weekends Kentucky Derby and what is going on in Wall Street, horsing around. Lou pointed out that while the unemployment rate was up the number of jobs increased for the first time in nine months. And of course the market focused on the negative, Gold was up but oil was down for the week. To see more about Lou's opening remarks check out this link. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBC...
Liz Ann Sonders predicts the stock market will not turn up decidedly until we see an upward move in corporate profits. This is in contrast to what the market normally does, anticipating events. Economic fundamentals look good but political events in the Mid-East do have the market worried in her view. Liz Ann would sell richly valued stocks with high PEG ratios. She would buy Health care stocks like Baxter International (BAX) Consumer stocks like Target Corp (TGT) Financials like Freddie Mac (FRE). In the technology area Sonders recommends a defensive posture but does like Intel (INTC) and Electronic Data Systems (EDS).
John Kim is still cautious and is not recommending being in the market for now. He suggests looking to the Junk Bond market as a sign of when to get back into stocks. If you must be in the market John likes a stable franchise stock that pays a good dividend. A couple of those would be People's Bank (BBCT) and Key Corp (KEY).
Tom Gallagher thinks the stock market has been held back by more conservative accounting practices as well as political events coming out of this recession. Tom believes later this year Congress will pass and energy bill that will benefit Utilities like Allegheny Energy (AYE). Gallagher also is positive on defense stocks but is worried about Pharmaceuticals.
Lou introduced Guest Mario Gabelli Chairman & CEO Gabelli Asset management. Mario uses as a guide of what to pay for a stock what he figures a knowledgeable private buyer would pay for the entire company. Gabelli says he is simply continuing what Benjamin Graham and David Dodd started in the 1930s. Current examples of that strategy would be Thomas Nelson (TNM) Thomas & Betts (TNB) and Thomas Industries (TII). Gabelli believes all three are ripe for takeovers above where they closed Friday. Lou relayed some questions from viewers critical of some of Mario's stock selection Cablevision (CVC). Mario still likes it and sees it worth three times what it is trading for now. Pulitzer Publishing Inc. (PTZ) has been another shall we say inconsistent performer. Gabelli says be patient it will turn when the FCC allows one company to own newspapers and TV stations in one market. Another viewer asked if the debt burden so common in the Cable and Telecom sectors is a worry. He said you have to look at it on a company-by-company basis. Debt is bad if they don't have the cash flow or assets to support the debt. Gabelli tries to hold stocks long enough to receive preferential tax treatment and has a holding period of 2-3 years and many times holds much longer.
Liz Ann asked if now with Regulation Fair Disclosure it is harder to get information directly from companies. Mario said regulation FD has been great, it forces analysts to become analysts and not investment bankers in drag. You can still talk to the companies and get information to better understand the dynamics and changes all business goes through. You can also talk to customers and competitors without violating the regulations. John asked if he was concerned about all the money coming into the smaller sized stocks now. Not at all, it is hard work to find the next Microsoft but it can be done says Gabelli. Mario points out that as of March 31st small cap funds accounted for $190 Billion up from $130 Billion a year ago. $190 Billion is less than half the market cap lost in Cisco (CSCO) the past two years. Tom said eventually the FCC will lift the ban on one company owning newspapers and TV station in one market as previously discussed and wanted to know which companies would benefit from that action. Gabelli listed several they include. Paxson Communication (PAX) Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) Liberty Corporation (LC) Media General (MEG) and Rainbow Media Group (RMG).
Trends Gabelli thinks going forward have potential for profits are the steady increase in the Hispanic population Televisa maybe worth a look along with Grupo Bimbo or Flowers. In the cost containment area Watts Industries and Crane Company. And there we do have to end it.
-- posted by SteveT
» Kirk - Re: Surprise!
In response to message posted by SteveT:
Great Job Steve!
I had a great laugh listening to Sonders and Kim talking about now is not the time to be buying tech stocks....
I remember Sonders doubled peoples money with her WSW picks in 1999 but lost over 50% in 2000 (gave it all back) then lost ANOTHER 50% or so in 2001!... John Kim was not much better.
I remember well Kim and Sonders were all over "Exodus" as the hot stock to own in 2000 and they continued to recommend super high PEG (if there were any earnings) companies in 2001...
NOW we hear Kim is in cash! Talk about CAPITULATION!
I believe the 3rd panelist, Tom Gallagher of ISI, is pretty close to those two for rotten performance in a bear but he doesn't claim to be a money manager and was reluctant to give stocks as his past recommendations probably taught him a lesson.
These three are about the last three people on the planet I'd take investment advice from given their past performance...
Contrast Lis Ann Sonder's and John Kim's caution to Marty Zweig, Frank Cap', Harry Eisen and the Hollands and who were cautious when the market was in the bubble and who are now (I believe) all cautiously bullish. The contrarian in me sure feels better even as my semiconductor capital equipment stocks have given much of their gains back the past two weeks.
Thanks again for the good summary!
Perhaps we should update the Fan Club Page to reflect the new show?
-- posted by Kirk
» Kirk - Oops! My mistake
Oops...
I wrote:
These three are about the last three people on the planet I'd take investment advice from given their past performance...
Steve has the "2001 Panel Stock Picking contest results" up on his web site and it shows that Tom Gallagher did 8% in 2001 so I was wrong. I was thinking of Roger McNamee who lost 54% last yr.
2001 Results:
Tom Gallagher +8%
Johm Kim -30.33%
Lis Ann Sonders -54.17%
http://www.suite101.com/mybulletin.cfm/W...
It is too bad that we don't have the 2000 and 1999 panel stock pick results on Steve's Fan Club page.... but maybe we do have them here somewhere?
-- posted by Kirk
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