Fox News Changes: Anchor E.D. Hill Loses Her Show, Laura Ingraham In At 5PM

  The Fox News Channel, which has been seeking a new format for the 5 p.m. hour, will place a rotating series of personalities in the time slot beginning next week, including the conservative radio host Laura Ingraham.

Ms. Ingraham, one of the country’s most popular radio hosts, frequently fills in for Bill O’Reilly, and Fox executives appear to be grooming her as a new talent for the network. Other people will also receive trial runs in the time slot.

Fox News Channel is expected to announce the changes later Tuesday. In February the cable network replaced John Gibson, the longtime host of the 5 p.m. hour, with Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly, two younger anchors who also host a morning show. Mr. Hemmer and Ms. Kelly’s afternoon show, “America’s Election HQ,” covered the primary season. But now, with the party nominees known and two months until the political conventions, there may not be quite as much election news to cover.

The 5 p.m. hour, a transition time between the afternoon and evening on cable news, has seen increased competition in recent months. Fox News, normally the top-rated network in every hour, last week placed third in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic that advertisers covet. Last week, as the primary season ended, CNN averaged 235,000 viewers in the demographic, while MSNBC saw 218,000 and Fox saw 198,000.

For the full month of May, “America’s Election HQ” topped CNN and MSNBC, averaging 200,000 demographic viewers compared to 194,000 for CNN and 176,000 for MSNBC.

In another schedule change, the network will expand the 1 p.m. show “The Live Desk with Martha MacCallum” to two hours and add a co-host, Trace Gallagher. Fox has not determined the new role for E.D. Hill, the current 2 p.m. host. 

  Perhaps feeling the ratings heat, Fox News is making changes to its afternoon lineup.

TVNewser reports that E.D. Hill, who hosts "America's Pulse" — and who raised many eyebrows this week after calling Barack and Michelle Obama's fist-pound a "terrorist fist jab" — has lost her show:

America's Pulse anchored by E.D. Hill goes away, but Hill stays with the network in a capacity to be determined. Hill has been with FNC since 1998. She co-anchored Fox & Friends for several years before moving to the 11amET hour, then launching America's Pulse.

TVNewser further reports that Martha MacCallum's "Live Desk" will be expanded to two hours and that she will take on a co-host, Trace Gallagher.

Further, the New York Times' Brian Stelter reports that the network will test Laura Ingraham in the 5PM hour (once occupied by John Gibson and filled of late by "America's Election HQ"):

The Fox News Channel, which has been seeking a new format for the 5 p.m. hour, will place a rotating series of personalities in the time slot beginning next week, including the conservative radio host Laura Ingraham.

Ms. Ingraham, one of the country's most popular radio hosts, frequently fills in for Bill O'Reilly, and Fox executives appear to be grooming her as a new talent for the network. Other people will also receive trial runs in the time slot.

Fox News Channel is expected to announce the changes later Tuesday. In February the cable network replaced John Gibson, the longtime host of the 5 p.m. hour, with Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly, two younger anchors who also host a morning show. Mr. Hemmer and Ms. Kelly's afternoon show, "America's Election HQ," covered the primary season. But now, with the party nominees known and two months until the political conventions, there may not be quite as much election news to cover.

After graduating from Dartmouth College, Laura worked as a speechwriter in the final two years of the Reagan Administration at the White House, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Education. She went on to graduate from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was Notes Editor of the Law Review. She served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Ralph K. Winter on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. After clerking, Laura worked as a white-collar criminal defense attorney for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Laura launched "The Laura Ingraham Show" in 2001.

In addition to hosting her own syndicated radio program, Laura is an author, frequent columnist, and television commentator. Her book The Hillary Trap, first released in June 2000, was recently re-released in an updated paperback version. Her second book, Shut Up & Sing: How the Elites in Hollywood, Politics...and the UN are Subverting America is a bestseller. Ingraham's most recent book, Power to the People, was released on September 11, 2007, and topped Amazon's bestseller list on September 14.

In Power to the People, Ingraham focuses on what she calls the "pornification" of America. She discusses issues such as traditional family values, education, and American patriotism. Power to the People stresses the importance of getting involved in the culture: "The main thread that runs through these topics I cover in the book is civic involvement and civic virtue. Get in the game. Start a blog, report on what is happening at your local PTA. If you are a parent, and you are disgusted at what you see on your kid's computer screen, do something. Track where your kids go on the Internet. Tell your kids that you are going to review where they are on the Internet. Be a parental filter. Learn about threats that face America - from within and out. Education is the first line of defense."