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July 15, 1996…MSNBC Launched On Cable & Internet

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Eyes Of A Generation.com

The bottom video starts at 1:24, which is the first few minutes of the debut, which is acknowledged after the headline billboard. The stories and events they will be covering are similar to the ones we are watching today…the political conventions, the upcoming Atlanta Olympics, Russia’s president, and more, as reported from some very young looking “old friends”.

MSNBC launched July 15, 1996 on the already existing NBC owned cable channel, America’s Talking, using space at CNBC’s Ft. Lee facility. They later got their own building in Secaucus, but have been in Studio 3A at 30 Rock since October 2007, with several new set renovations this year. One of those was the addition of Brian Williams breaking news desk, and here’s link to a site that has this, and several other stories on NBC studio makeovers. http://www.newscaststudio.com/2015/09/24/brian-williams-breaking-news-desk-debuts-on-msnbc/

One of the fist MSNBC series is one that I love and wish someone would bring back…”Time And Again”, which is the first or top video on this page. Using NBC archival footage, that show is one of the best historical retrospective series I’ve seen.

Happy Birthday MSNBC! -Bobby Ellerbee

And so it began. On 15 July 1996, the U.S. gained a new 24 hour news channel which was then a joint venture between NBC News and Microsoft. For some hours le…

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12 responses to “July 15, 1996…MSNBC Launched On Cable & Internet”

  1. Bill Fike

    I remember this day well, and I watched them into the afternoon. Later in the day, a second-string anchor apparently had had zero familiarity with the Internet. For the sake of clarity, the prompter had MSNBC’s URL written out for clarity as “WWW – DOT – MSNBC – DOT – COM.” She read it literally several times, saying, “You can find us on the Web at www, dash dot dash, MSNBC, dash dot dash, com.”
    Apparently, the folks in the control room didn’t know any better because she kept reading it that way for quite some time!

  2. Stephen Paley

    I could never stand that Jody Applegate. She was annoying then, and still is, at least in this clip. I can understand why she did not last.

  3. Debra Oliver

    It’s weird how Jody leans forward on the anchor desk.

  4. Debra Oliver

    Check out Tom’s wide tie! LOL

  5. Jeff Kreines

    The original Time and Again was great in that they ran shows As Aired — you got to see how bad film chains of the era were!

  6. Gary Walters

    I wish MSNBC would do a regular show on a weekly basis instead of Lockup (name your prison), and really open up the archives. Not just clips but whole hours of events like manned space launches, etc. Time and Again was good, but it drifted off to celebrity profiles at the end.

  7. Robert Barker

    I loved watching Obermann on MSNBC. He’s one of the last live wires on TV, tuning in to see him possibly fall apart, like Paar. I have no particular criticism of MSNBC, I just wish there were two or three REAL News channels on 24-hour cable to balance the CNN/FOX/MSNBC clown show.

  8. Dennis Degan

    Bobby, I thought MS started in Secaucus. That thought was just re-enforced when I looked at the ‘On-Air Launch’ clip you linked to above. The set where Jody Applegate is seen anchoring was located in Secaucus.

  9. Skip Dresch

    MSNBC – just bad “unwatchable ” too bad

  10. Russell Ross

    Unlike CNBC…….MSNBC is becoming less relevant everyday. They try but to no avail.

  11. Preston Trusler

    It sure ended up being a biased Disappointment.

  12. James T. Freeman

    My favorite original MSNBC show was “The Site.”

    It may just be me, but I thought MSNBC hit its peak right at the beginning. I also think the original sets and graphics package were better by miles than anything the channel has had since. Two decades later, it still looks fresh — sophisticated, even.

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