The Loudest Voice in the Room: How the Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News--And Divided a Country (69 page)

  
63.
“It was clear”
Junod, “Roger Ailes on Roger Ailes: The Interview Transcripts, Part 2.”

  
64.
“The more she’d hound”
Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.

  
65.
“He analyzed it”
Ibid.

  
66.
In 1940, the year Roger
O.E.D. Jr., “Mr. Hoover Televiewed,”
New York Times
, June 30, 1940.

  
67.
Seven years later
Samuel A. Tower, “Truman Calls on Nation to Forego Meat Tuesdays, Poultry, Eggs Thursdays,”
New York Times
, Oct. 6, 1947.

  
68.
Between 1950 and 1951
Richard Sutch and Susan B. Carter, eds.,
Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition
(Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2006), Vol. 4, 977–98. The statistic appears in “Communications,” a contribution by economist Alexander J. Field.

  
69.
Gunsmoke
Nancy Hass, “Embracing the Enemy,”
New York Times Magazine
, Jan. 8, 1995.

  
70.
“I liked to get”
William Alcorn, “Fox News Chairman Ailes Comes Home, Discusses Obama’s Tasks,”
Vindicator
, Nov. 11, 2008.

  
71.
One of those fellow actors
Author interview with Robert Ailes, Jr.

  
72.
“He sat down”
Author interview with Warren resident Kent Fusselman.

  
73.
Launa Newman developed an instant connection
Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.

  
74.
Before graduating, Roger
Author interview with Warren resident Bernice Marino.

  
75.
“Father did not encourage”
Ibid.

  
76.
Once, when Roger
Auletta, “Vox Fox.”

  
77.
During his prime earning years
Donna M. Ailes v. Robert E. Ailes
, Trumbull County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas, Division of Domestic Relations, Case 5396, Oct. 7, 1959.

  
78.
To make some extra money
Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.

  
79.
“The poor guy”
Grove, “The Image Shaker; Roger Ailes, the Bush Team’s Wily Media Man.”

  
80.
When it came time to buy
Donna M. Ailes v. Robert E. Ailes
, Trumbull County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas, Division of Domestic Relations, Case 5396, March 18, 1960.

  
81.
“He tried hard”
Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.

  
82.
“All I wanted to do”
Grove, “The Image Shaker; Roger Ailes, the Bush Team’s Wily Media Man.”

  
83.
After landing a job
Donald Baer, “Roger Rabid,”
Manhattan, Inc.
, Sept. 1989.

  
84.
One day, in the spring
Junod, “Roger Ailes on Roger Ailes: The Interview Transcripts, Part 2.”

  
85.
“It felt like a picture-perfect”
Author interview with Ohio University alumnus Arthur Nolletti.

  
86.
Students went for hayrides
See, for instance,
Athena
, 1959 (Ohio University yearbook), 32.

  
87.
During Ailes’s sophomore year
The Post
(Ohio University), May 19, 1960.

  
88.
The handbook
1958–1959 Student Handbook, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.

  
89.
A caption
Athena
, 1959 (Ohio University yearbook), 9.

  
90.
In December 1959
Wesley M. Stevens, “Beatniks Protested at Fireside Group,”
Athens Messenger
, Dec. 30, 1959.

  
91.
He wanted to join the military
Tom Hodson,
Conversations from Studio B
(interview with Roger Ailes at 4:18), WOUB Public Media, Ohio University, May 20, 2012.
http://woub.org/2012/05/20/fox-news-chairman-and-ceo-roger-ailes
.

  
92.
In a certain sense
Playbill, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.

  
93.
“I was hammered all the time”
Marshall Sella, “The Red-State Network,”
New York Times
, June 24, 2001.

  
94.
“I skipped a lot of classes”
Roger Ailes interview with Brian Lamb on C-Span, Dec. 19, 2004.

  
95.
Ailes’s starting position
Hodson,
Conversations from Studio B
(interview with Roger Ailes, at 4:40).

  
96.
He then hosted
Author interview with Ohio University alumnus Donald Hylkema. (On-air, Hylkema used the pseudonym Don Mathews.) See also Hodson,
Conversations from Studio B
(interview with Roger Ailes, at 7:42, 8:10).

  
97.
Vincent Jukes, a stout
Author interview with former WOUB station manager Frank Youngwerth.

  
98.
One day, he concocted
Author interview with Donald Hylkema.

  
99.
Archie Greer
Jaine Wyatt, “Archie Greer,”
Athens
(Ohio)
News
, Jan. 4, 2010.

100.
Unlike Jukes
Author interviews with WOUB students.

101.
“Archie was probably the first person”
Roger Ailes remarks at dedication of Roger E. Ailes Newsroom, Ohio University, April 24, 2008.

102.
By the end
Author interviews with WOUB students.
Cablegram
noted in an article titled “Employes’ [
sic
] Sons Get Collegiate Honors” that “Roger Ailes, a sophomore at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, was named station manager of WOUB, the university’s radio station. It was reported that this is the first time a sophomore student has been named to the position.”

103.
Ailes was soon selected
Cablegram
reported that Ailes was also “named the outstanding sophomore in radio-television by the local chapter of Alpha Epsilon Rho.” See also
Athena
, 1962 (Ohio University yearbook), 215.

104.
“We were sort of afraid”
Author interview with Ohio University alumnus Mike Adams.

105.
When school was in session
Hodson,
Conversations from Studio B
(interview with Roger Ailes, at 5:40).

106.
He was often
Ibid., at 11:30.

107.
During one summer
Author interview with Donald Hylkema.

108.
Without telling his classmates
Hodson,
Conversations from Studio B
(interview with Roger Ailes, at 10:12). According to
Broadcasting
, Ailes was also the program director for WMPO in 1962. (“Week’s Profile: How to Change Debate Loser to Arena Winner,”
Broadcasting
, Nov. 11, 1968, 101). For the pseudonym “Dick Summers,” see Nadine Brozan, “Chronicle,”
New York Times
, April 2, 1993.

109.
“He didn’t let anyone”
Author interview with Donald Hylkema.

110.
“He did not display”
Author interview with Don Swaim.

111.
“I remember when he told me”
Author interview with Ohio University alumnus Bill Klokow.

112.
“Control was extremely important”
Author interview with Donald Hylkema.

113.
“The thing is about hemophiliacs”
Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.

114.
Her amended divorce petition
Amended Petition,
Donna M. Ailes v. Robert E. Ailes
, Trumbull County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas, Division of Domestic Relations, Case 5396, March 18, 1960.

115.
The original complaint
Petition,
Donna M. Ailes v. Robert E. Ailes
, Trumbull County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas, Division of Domestic Relations, Case 5396, Oct. 7, 1959.

116.
temporary restraining order
Journal entry, Judge Bruce Henderson, Trumbull County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas, Division of Domestic Relations, Oct. 8, 1959.

117.
“I got a call”
Junod, “Roger Ailes on Roger Ailes: The Interview Transcripts, Part 2.”

118.
“It affected Roger”
Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.

119.
On April 27
Journal entry (decree of divorce), Judge Bruce Henderson, April 27, 1960. That Donna J. Ailes was a senior in high school, see the amended petition.

120.
Joseph Urban
Entry for Joseph Urban, created by his stepson Robert Ailes Jr., on
Findagrave.com
.

121.
“He could speak German”
Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.

122.
“I never found my stamp collection”
Junod, “Roger Ailes on Roger Ailes: The Interview Transcripts, Part 2.”

123.
As a freshman
Author interview with Frank Youngwerth. See also Chafets,
Roger Ailes
, 22. That Ailes’s mother was born in Parkersburg, see entry for Donna Marie Cunningham (Ailes) Urban, created by her son, Robert Ailes Jr., on
Findagrave.com
. Lisa Chase, daughter of the late David R. Chase, confirmed that Marjorie was engaged to her father.

124.
“Dave was a big man”
Author interview with Frank Youngwerth.

125.
A talented broadcaster
Author interview with Lisa Chase, daughter of David R. Chase. See also “Fates and Fortunes,”
Broadcasting
, Feb. 20, 1978, 64.

126.
“Roger stole her away”
Author interview with Donald Hylkema.

127.
At 11:30 a.m. on August 27, 1960
Original logs of Galbreath Chapel, Ohio University Archives.

128.
After the wedding
According to the 1960–1961 student directory, they lived at 49 Stewart Street. Ohio University Archives.

129.
Marjorie taught
Author interview with Robert Ailes Jr.

130.
“Here’s a guy”
Author interview with Frank Youngwerth.

131.
“Maybe that’s why”
Junod, “Roger Ailes on Roger Ailes: The Interview Transcripts, Part 2.”

132.
After graduation
Ailes mentions the Columbus radio job in his interview with Hodson at 17:20.

133.
He had applied
Cablegram
reported in 1962 that “Roger E. Ailes, son of Robert E. Ailes, Depart. 551, will be graduated this June from Ohio University where he majored in radio-television. Upon graduation, he will assume a position as an associate director at KYW-TV in Cleveland and will work in the program department and assist in the production and direction of television shows.”

    
1.
After deciding to acquire
For 1955, see Val Adams, “TV Variety Show Faces Time Cut,”
New York Times
, May 18, 1955. For
Eyewitness
, see
archive.wkyc.com/company/about_us
; for
Barnaby
, see Tim Hollis,
Hi There, Boys and Girls! America’s Local Children’s TV Programs
(Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001), 217–18.

    
2.
Chet Collier
Radio Annual and Television Yearbook 1962
(New York: Radio Daily Corp., 1962), 803. Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson. Collier died in 2007.

    
3.
“Roger!”
Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.

    
4.
Westinghouse was preparing
Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson. For date of syndication, see Gil Faggen, “Cleveland Local Show Begins Syndication,”
Billboard
, Aug. 17, 1963.

    
5.
Forrest “Woody” Fraser
Mike Douglas,
Mike Douglas: My Story
(New York: Ballantine, 1979), 209. For
Hi Ladies!
, see Mike Douglas, Thomas Kelly, and Michael Heaton,
I’ll Be Right Back: Memories of TV’s Greatest Talk Show
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 17. For
Club 60
and
Adults Only
, see Douglas,
Mike Douglas
, 202–3.

    
6.
Newman was the first
Ibid.

    
7.
Together, Fraser and Newman
Mike Douglas,
Mike Douglas
, 211. Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.

    
8.
“All they came up with”
Ibid.

    
9.
One afternoon
Mike Douglas,
I’ll Be Right Back
, 21, 203. Douglas tells a different version of the anecdote in
My Story
, 212.

  
10.
it was Kyser
Douglas,
My Story
, 6. There are many variations on the story of how Douglas got his stage name. Page 82 of the Harry Harris biography,
Mike Douglas: The Private Life of the Public Legend
(New York: Award Books, 1976), has two: Douglas says that “Mike Dowd” sounded too much like one of Kyser’s friends. Kyser says that “Douglas” had a softer sound and more rhythm than “Dowd.” Page 168 of Douglas’s
My Story
has another: Douglas says that Kyser changed the name from “Michael D. Dowd Jr.” to “Michael Douglas” because the former sounded too “fancy,” like the name of a Supreme Court justice.

  
11.
buying and selling real estate
Douglas, Kelly, and Heaton,
I’ll Be Right Back
, 16.

  
12.
“A million to one”
Ibid., 23.

  
13.
Westinghouse signed him
Ibid., 18, 23.

  
14.
“His geniality”
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 100.

  
15.
“You’re going to work”
Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson. Ailes joined
The Mike Douglas Show
circa 1962–63. On March 11, 1963,
Broadcasting
reported that “Roger Ailes, associate director of Mike Douglas Show on KYW-TV Cleveland, [was] promoted to staff producer-director.”

  
16.
Starting out
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 122.

  
17.
“He would usually be gone”
Author interview with Marjorie’s sister Kay Luckhardt. She lived with them for a month in 1964. According to the 1964 Cleveland City Directory, they lived at 17400 Euclid Avenue, Apartment 221. It was a commercial street, predominantly developed in the 1920s, a short walk to the train tracks. For Euclid-Green neighborhood boundaries and facts, see
http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/cwp/districts.php?dt=dist6&dn=green
.

  
18.
“He was very intense”
Author interview with former
Mike Douglas
producer Deborah Miller. At the time she went by the name Debbie Miller.

  
19.
When Cleveland native
Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson. See also Faggen, “Cleveland Local Show Begins Syndication.”

  
20.
One time a singer
Author interview with a former colleague of Roger Ailes.

  
21.
For a young producer
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 108. See also Faggen, “Cleveland Local Show Begins Syndication.”

  
22.
“You didn’t know”
Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.

  
23.
“He used to come into work”
Author interview with former
Mike Douglas
producer Larry Rosen.

  
24.
He rarely invited
Author interviews with
Mike Douglas
colleagues.

  
25.
Roger did cast her
Author interview with Marjorie’s sister Kay Luckhardt.

  
26.
“I felt like”
Author interview with former
Mike Douglas
producer Rift Fournier. He died on October 6, 2013.

  
27.
“He was always joking”
Author interview with Deborah Miller.

  
28.
“He’d come in”
Author interview with Larry Rosen.

  
29.
One time, instead of
Ibid.

  
30.
Fraser created drama
Douglas,
I’ll Be Right Back
, 28.

  
31.
Fraser said, “The most”
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 108.

  
32.
Fraser insisted
Ibid.

  
33.
“There were times”
Author interview with former
Mike Douglas
producer Robert LaPorta.

  
34.
Fraser had a clear vision
Douglas,
I’ll Be Right Back
, 26–27.

  
35.
“You can’t ignore New York”
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 114.

  
36.
The show expanded
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 104, 109. See also Mike Douglas Archive of American Television Interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QP0oRay9eY&list=PL065F0DF2B108C359
.

  
37.
A good-natured
For the Rolling Stones, Cosby, and King, see Douglas,
I’ll Be Right Back
, 56–57, 97–98, 187–89.

  
38.
“We wrote him simple questions”
Author interview with Larry Rosen.

  
39.
Ailes and Fraser began
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 121.

  
40.
According to Ailes
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 60, 105.

  
41.
“We had to write”
Author interview with Larry Rosen.

  
42.
For the first few years
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 105.

  
43.
The company was gaining
“NBC to Make Trade with Westinghouse,” United Press International, June 3, 1965.

  
44.
Collier smoothed over
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 121.

  
45.
In August 1965
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 110, 112, 116; Inga Saffron, “Channeling TV History,”
Philadelphia Inquirer
, Feb. 4, 2011.

  
46.
Within two years “
Television: Mommy’s Boy,”
Time
, Oct. 6, 1967.

  
47.
Douglas’s agent soon
Douglas,
I’ll Be Right Back
, 36.

  
48.
“Mike was really controlled by Woody”
Author interview with Deborah Miller.

  
49.
“The reason was very simple”
Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.

  
50.
In Douglas’s memoir
Douglas,
I’ll Be Right Back
, 217–19. (Woody Fraser, who now works for Fox News, declined to be interviewed for this book.)

  
51.
“Give us the lowdown”
Author interview with Larry Rosen.

  
52.
“He became friends”
Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.

  
53.
“It was a kind of game”
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 66.

  
54.
Debbie Miller and a friend
Author interview with Deborah Miller.

  
55.
Ailes was his replacement
On July 18, 1966,
Broadcasting
announced that “Roger E. Ailes, associate producer of
The Mike Douglas Show
, named executive producer, replacing Forrest L. Fraser, who becomes manager of talent and program development of WBC productions, New York.”

  
56.
Officially, Fraser had been moved
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 120–21. Fraser told Harris, “Westinghouse did move me upstairs, because they were trying to hold on to me, but it didn’t last long. I only stayed to kind of cover myself monetarily. Westinghouse is very fair in one respect. When they let someone go, it’s in a much nicer fashion than many other big corporations.” Fraser returned to
The Mike Douglas Show
in 1973.

  
57.
In 1967, Fraser left
Author interview with Kenny Johnson; “New Morning TV Show in March,” The Record Newspapers, Troy, New York, Jan. 20, 1968; “Upbeat in Variety Talk Syndication,”
Broadcasting
, Feb. 26, 1968, 19–20.

  
58.
“That was a real palace coup”
Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.

  
59.
Larry Rosen was
Author interview with Larry Rosen.

  
60.
One producer
Author interview with a former
Mike Douglas
producer.

  
61.
In his book
Roger Ailes and Jon Kraushar,
You Are the Message: Getting What You Want by Being Who You Are
(New York: Crown Business, 1988), 128–29.

  
62.
Within days of Fraser’s ouster
Author interview with Larry Rosen.

  
63.
On the wall, he hung
Author interview with Robert LaPorta. In an interview with
Broadcasting
, Ailes refers to putting the quote on his office wall: “Week’s Profile: How to Change Debate Loser to Arena Winner,”
Broadcasting
, Nov. 11, 1968, 101. See also McGinniss,
The Selling of the President
, 67.

  
64.
Theodore Roosevelt’s
Theodore Roosevelt, “Citizen in a Republic” (speech, Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910),
http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trsorbonnespeech.html
.

  
65.
Ailes fired Debbie Miller
Author interview with Deborah Miller.

  
66.
Larry Rosen and Launa Newman
Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.

  
67.
“Roger always used to say”
Author interview with Robert LaPorta.

  
68.
“Roger weighed 160 pounds”
Author interview with Robert LaPorta.

  
69.
Ailes made sure
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 54.

  
70.
“He gave me a wide berth”
Author interview with Launa Newman-Minson.

  
71.
At one point
Harris,
Mike Douglas
, 53–54.

  
72.
During one production
Author interview with Kenny Johnson. Later in his career,
Johnson broke into Hollywood and co-wrote and directed the CBS television movie
Senior Trip
, about a small-town class trip to Manhattan, which featured a hugely ambitious hemophiliac character named Roger Ellis, played by Scott Baio. “I’m gonna make it. Big—and in New York … where it counts,” Ellis declares in one scene.

  
73.
“I want everyone”
Roger Ailes memo, Aug. 10, 1966.

  
74.
Ailes contacted classical music buff
Author interview with International Piano Library cofounder Gregor Benko.

  
75.
The show had gone color
“Douglas Show to Make Color Debut,”
Billboard
, Feb. 11, 1967. The article notes that the show would begin taping in color on February 20 in Cypress Gardens, Florida, and would be made available on March 6.

  
76.
Once, when Barbara
Author interview with Barbara Walters.

  
77.
In September 1967
“People,”
Sports Illustrated
, Sept. 18, 1967, 86.

  
78.
“Roger got on the phone”
Author interview with Robert LaPorta.

  
79.
Kenny Johnson
Author interview with former
Mike Douglas
producer Kenny Johnson.

  
80.
“We called Roger ‘Ralph’ ”
Author interview with Robert LaPorta.

  
81.
In the fall of 1967
Indenture filed in the Deed Book in the Recorder of Deeds Office, Media, Pennsylvania, Book 2287, 560–61. They took out a $31,000 mortgage for the house (see Book 2786, page 411). The cul-du-sac is Oak Valley Road.

  
82.
Ailes was making $60,000
“Nixon’s Roger Ailes,”
Washington Post
(Q&A), Feb. 13, 1972,
http://www.scribd.com/doc/53543922/Roger-Ailes-I-Dont-Try-to-Fool-Voters
. In an author interview, Kenny Johnson, who followed Ailes as executive producer, said that the figure was commensurate with his own salary as executive producer.