Squawk Box

Squawk Box Information

Squawk Box is a business news television program which airs at breakfast time on the CNBC network. The program is currently co-hosted by Joe Kernen, Rebecca Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Since debuting in 1995, the show has spawned a number of versions across CNBC's international channels, many of which employ a similar format. The program title originates from a term used in investment banks and stock brokerages for a permanent voice circuit or intercom used to communicate stock deals or sales priorities.

Format

Dubbed "our pre-game show" by regular co-host Joe Kernen, Squawk Box features early-morning analysis of and breaking news from the financial markets, along with considerable banter between the hosts and their guests - original host Mark Haines stressed the need to "inject a little fun" into business news in the early morning. Another distinctive and long-running feature of the show has been its use of daily "guest hosts" - figures from the world of business and politics who join the team for much of the broadcast, questioning guests as well as offering their own opinions.

Regular contributors to the show include Melissa Lee, Christine Tan (who reports on the Asian markets from CNBC Asia headquarters in Singapore), Ross Westgate (who covers the European markets from CNBC Europe in London), Sharon Epperson (NYMEX), Rick Santelli (Chicago), Steve Liesman, Guy Adami and CNBC senior analyst Ron Insana.

Meteorologists from The Weather Channel contribute to the "Business Travel Forecast" segments.

History

Squawk Box's core on-air team remained intact for many years - the program was originally presented by New Jersey lawyer Mark Haines, along with in-studio reporters Joe Kernen and David Faber and Maria Bartiromo at the New York Stock Exchange. CNBC's senior economics reporter Steve Liesman also became a frequent contributor. Alexis Glick joined the team as senior trading correspondent in May 2003, while Bartiromo stepped down from her position in 2004 to concentrate on other duties. Rebecca Quick later replaced Glick as a reporter.

For many years the program covered the opening bells of the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ Stock Market at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Other regular segments included the Squawk Exchange, where the team (particularly Faber and Kernen) shared banter on various topics, On the Box (rapid-fire summaries of the day's headlines) and Joe's World, where Kernen sounded off on the day's notable stock stories.

During the period when CNBC's online presence was housed at MSN Money, the show held its own daily Squawk Back Poll on the website, where viewers voted on a topical issue. In May 2005 the program established its own blog on Windows Live Spaces, called SquawkBlog, where the program hosts posted their thoughts, although this is no longer in use.

2005 revamp

The program underwent a significant revamp on December 19, 2005 with the show moving to the 6:00am ET timeslot and Joe Kernen, Rebecca Quick and Carl Quintanilla helming a new tri-anchor format alongside on-air editor Charles Gasparino. Haines and Faber moved to a newly-created program, Squawk on the Street, anchored from the NYSE by Haines and Erin Burnett with Faber at CNBC headquarters. As a result of these changes, coverage of the market open at 9:30am ET passed to Squawk on the Street. The "guest host" feature of Squawk Box was dropped immediately after the revamp but later reinstated.

There was a significant amount of initial negative feedback about the changes made to Squawk, most notably the removal of Mark Haines from the team. On the Squawk Box blog, over 200 complaints were entered into the site, along with numerous messages posted on the CNBC message board.

2011-present

On July 8, 2011, Carl Quintanilla left Squawk Box to become part of the new Squawk on the Street anchor team. His new assignment began July 11, 2011, when he debuted with Melissa Lee and Simon Hobbs. Andrew Ross Sorkin, of The New York Times, joined Kernen and Quick as Quintanilla's replacement. Sorkin made his debut as co-anchor July 18, 2011.

Show times

The program airs from 6 a.m. until 9 a.m. Eastern Time in the United States.

It is also relayed in its entirety live on CNBC Europe although it is sometimes partially pre-empted for local programming, particularly to cover European Central Bank interest rate announcements and the subsequent press conferences.

In Asia, the show is aired in its entirety on CNBC Asia from Mondays to Thursdays while on Fridays the first hour is pre-empted to air Asia Market Week and Managing Asia.

Spin-offs

Squawk Box Weekend Edition

CNBC once aired Squawk Box Weekend Edition weekends from 7:30 to 8pm ET during c. 1999 to 2000, also hosted by Mark Haines.

Worldwide Squawk Box

Around CNBC's global branches, there are many "Squawk Boxes" in the world:

Channel	Program	Still Run?	Presenters
CNBC Europe	Squawk Box Europe	(1998"?present)	Geoff Cutmore and Karen Tso
CNBC Europe	Squawk Outside The Box	(early 2007"?present)	Geoff Cutmore
CNBC Asia	Asia Squawk Box	(February 1998"?present)	Martin Soong and Lisa Oake
CNBC Asia	Squawk Australia	(2007-03-26"?2010-06-11)	Oriel Morrison
Nikkei CNBC	Tokyo Squawk Box
CNBC-TV18	Bazaar
CNBC-e	Geri Say?m	(2000"?present)
Class CNBC	Caffè Affari	(?"?present)
CNBC Arabiya	Aswak Al Mal	(?"?present)
CNBC Africa	Squawk Box Africa	(2008-04-07(?)"?present)

Among the above, Squawk Box Europe and Asia Squawk Box are the counterparts which resemble the original Squawk Box the most:

They are all three hours in duration.
They all have a guest host appearing on the show, mostly after the first hour.
In addition, Maria Bartiromo has served as a guest co-anchor on both Squawk Box Europe and Asia Squawk Box.

(Karen Tso moved to the Asia version of Squawk Box (and was based in Singapore) and after Amanda Drury briefly replaced Ms. Tso on Squawk Australia, Oriel Morrison moved into that role in 2010 while Ms. Drury is now based in the US). Tso moved to the European version of Squawk Box after joining CNBC Europe in 2011.

Fantasy Portfolio Challenge

150,221 players participated in the Squawk Box Fantasy Portfolio Challenge, a stock-picking contest that ran from 2006-04-04 through 2006-05-26. The winner of the Squawk Box Fantasy Portfolio Challenge, which was announced live at the end of the 2006-06-02 episode, was Thomas Ko of California. His $5,015,735 portfolio value outpaced all the other contenders. He was also the winner of a brand-new, limited-production, 2006 Maserati GranSport.