Wall $treet Week

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Wall $treet Week (W$W) was a respected, long-running investment news and information TV program broadcast weekly each Friday on PBS in the United States. It had a host (or hosts) and guest experts participating in discussions on the stock market and focused on forecasts. The program, created by Anne Truax Darlington and produced by Maryland Public Television (MPT), aired from 1970 to 2005 and was officially titled Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser during the many years he hosted. Most of the underwriters throughout the show's tenure included: Martin Marietta, Lockheed (soon to merge long after stopping their share of funding), Prudential Securities (and its precursor, Prudential-Bache Securities), Hanson Trust, Unisys, Travelers Insurance, Ameritech (before the big switch to SBC, which merged AT&T), Oppenheimer Funds, A.G. Edwards, Oppenheimer Funds, The Kaufmann Fund, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and all local PBS affiliates and their viewers/contributors.

In June 2002, the show was modified, dropping Rukeyser and changing the name to Wall $treet Week with Fortune. Rukeyser went on to host Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street on CNBC (cancelled on December 31, 2004 at the request of the show's host himself), which was also distributed to PBS stations. Wall $treet Week with Fortune, which was hosted by Geoff Colvin and former Fox News business correspondent Karen Gibbs, ended its PBS run on June 24, 2005.

1 Show Format
2 Show Popularity
- 2.1 The Rukeyser Effect
3 Mr. Rukeyser as host
4 Mr. Rukeyser's dismissal
5 External links

[edit] Show Format

[edit] Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser:

Commentary

Mr. Rukeyser would begin the program with a short commentary on the week's financial news, followed by a summation of market statistics.

Panel Discussion

A panel of financial analysts (usually three in number) offer their opinions on the market, and give specific stock recommendations.

Viewer Mail

The panelists would answer questions submitted by viewers. This segment always ended with Mr. Rukeyser delivering a pun-laden solicitation for letters.

Interview

In the final segment, Mr. Rukeyser and the panelist interview a guest expert. Over the years, the list of guests included such notables as Paul Volcker, Alan Greenspan, Ross Perot, John Kenneth Galbraith, Malcolm Forbes, and Paul Samuelson.

[edit] New Year's Show

On the last Friday of the year, the host and panelists would appear in black tie, make market predictions and stock recommendations for the upcoming year, and review how well their predictions of one year ago fared.

[edit] Alternative Format

On October 23, 1987 (the first program following Black Monday), the show dropped its regular format for a special program where Mr. Rukeyser interviewed three experts on the impact of the stock market crash. Afterwards, the show would employ this alternative format whenever events warranted (usually once every few months).

[edit] Wall $treet Week with Fortune:

With the new hosts came a change in format:

Opening report

Mr. Colvin and Ms. Gibbs present separate news reports on major stories impacting the market.

Viewer Mail

The hosts answer questions from viewers.

Interviews:

The hosts conduct separate guest interviews; Ms. Gibbs handled interviews related to specific investing issues, while Mr. Colvin handled interviews relating to politics and the overall economy.

Closing Commentary

A brief commentary by Mr. Colvin.

[edit] Wall $treet Week Index

During its run, the show used two different indexes to predict future market trends:

Wall $treet Week Index:

From 1970 to 1989, the show used a technical analysis developed by Robert Nurock. The analysis consisted of ten separate technical indicators, each of which was assigned a value of either +1 (indicating a bullish trend), -1 (for a bearish trend, or 0 (neutral). A net balance of +5 (or higher) was interpreted as a buy signal, while a reading of -5 (or lower) was a sell signal. While the index rarely gave outright buy or sell signals, over time it was found to give an accurate forecast of the stock market. Mr. Rukeyser irreverently named the index "The Elves" (a reference to the Gnomes of Zurich), and dubbed Mr. Nurock the "Chief Elf". This index was replaced with the Elves Index after Mr. Nurock left the show in 1989.

Elves Index:

Used from 1989 to the end of the Rukeyser era, this index was also a reading of ten indicators scored in the same manner as the Wall $treet Week Index. Instead of reflecting technical factors, the indicators now represented the personal sentiment of ten market analysts about the direction of the market over the next three months. The Elves Index had more volatility and gave more buy signals than the Wall $treet Week Index, but was not as highly regarded. In 1998, one magazine even suggested the Elves Index was more useful as a contrarian tool, citing three examples where buy signals were followed by periods of market drift or contraction.

[edit] Show Popularity

The premiere of W$W on November 20, 1970 was carried on eleven stations of the Eastern Educational Television Network. The show rapidly grew in coverage and viewers until it became one of the most popular programs on the newly created PBS network. At its peak, the program aired on over 300 stations, and claimed a viewership of 4,100,000 households, which meant more people watched W$W every week than read the Wall Street Journal. The program became a major source of profit for both MPT and PBS through underwriting support and viewer pledges (it is estimated PBS earned $5,000,000 profit annually from the show).

[edit] The Rukeyser Effect

Over the years, stock traders and analyists noted that a company touted on W$W on Friday would experience a runup in its stock price the following Monday. This phenomenon, dubbed "The Rukeyser Effect", was a further demonstration of the program's influence.

[edit] Mr. Rukeyser as host

The popularity of the show was largely due to the personality of its first host. Louis Rukeyser conducted the proceedings with a wry sense of humor and a reassuring manner that came from his belief in the long term strength of the U.S. economy and the financial markets. In 1980 Mr. Rukeyser explained his hosting philosophy to the New York Times as "I am talking to one person, whom I regard as intelligent, with a good sense of humor, but not all that technically knowledgeable". He instructed panelists and guests not to use technical jargon and economic theories on the show, but rather talk about making money, because "Economics puts people to sleep. Money wakes them up."

[edit] Mr. Rukeyser's dismissal

From its ratings peak in the early 1980s, W$W suffered a long steady decline in viewers due to competition from shows such as the Nightly Business Report, cable programs like Moneyline, and cable networks such as CNBC. By 2001 viewership was down to 1,500,000 households. Equally troubling to MPT was that demographics showed that the average W$W viewer was 65 years old. MPT began to discuss the possibility of updating the format in an effort to reverse these trends. On March 21, 2002, MPT announced that beginning in June the program would be renamed Wall $treet Week with Fortune, would be a collaboration between MPT and Fortune magazine, and would feature two new cohosts. Mr. Rukeyser was invited to remain with the program in a reduced role as a senior correspondent, but he turned down the offer.

The following evening, Mr. Rukeyser opened the telecast by announcing "A funny thing happened to me on the way to the studio this week -- I got ambushed". He criticized MPT's decision to change the show format, announced that he was developing a new business program for PBS, and concluded his commentary by asking viewers to write to their local PBS station and request it carry his new show. After the broadcast MPT dismissed Mr. Rukeyser and Executive Producer Rich Dubroff. Over the next three months Marshall Loeb and Ray Brady served as guest hosts while the new format was put in place.

MPT was heavily criticized in the media for its decision to drop Mr. Rukeyser after 32 years of service. Some PBS stations reported a high volume of phone calls and e-mails of complaint concerning the format change. Many PBS affiliates, who had no advance knowledge of MPT's plans, were upset as well.