PBS cancels 'Wall $treet Week' after 35 years

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Owings Mills, Maryland — U.S. pubcaster, PBS said it was canceling its business magazine and interview program, Wall $treet Week. The last new episode is scheduled to air on June 24.

The program, based in Owings Mills, Maryland, has been on the air continuously for 35 years, becoming one of the longest-running programs in U.S. television history. It had been struggling to regain audience lost after the producers fired long-time host Louis Rukeyser in 2002 and signed a controversial deal with AOL Time Warner to co produce the show with the editorial staff of Fortune magazine.

According to a report in the New York Times, after Rukeyser's dismissal, 22 of the show's regular expert guests vowed never to appear on the program again. Rukeyser was later hired by cable channel CNBC, where he hosted a program that aired in direct competition with Wall $treet Week in the U.S. eastern time zone until he fell ill in December 2004.

Sources