MSNBC announced yesterday it is going through a rebranding. MSNBC will soon become MS NOW: your source for news, opinion, and WORLD. Hate to break it to you, MSNBC, but that sounds more like a plea for multiple sclerosis. Glenn and Stu discuss this horrendous rebrand and reveal all the ways it could be better. What if instead, in order to embrace a more feminist worldview, calling it Miss Now?
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: MSNBC is changing its name.
GLENN: They're changing their name.
STU: America institution.
GLENN: That's going to work?
STU: Of MSNBC. It's jarring to lose that close working relationship, which is how it started between Microsoft and NBC.
GLENN: Right.
STU: This is so weird.
GLENN: And asked for Microsoft and NBC.
STU: Yes.
GLENN: And Microsoft has been out of this for a long time, haven't they?
STU: Yes. They've been out of it for a long time. But they kept the MS in there.
GLENN: Why? Why?
STU: I don't know. I can't explain some of the things they do. I think most people would be -- that wouldn't remember it, would be shocked to realize, that Microsoft was once a big part of this.
It was supposed to be.
I think it was the first embrace of digital, at that level. Right?
It was a big deal at that time.
GLENN: It was. It was.
STU: It didn't last that long.
GLENN: And there's nothing that says credibility, more than the mainstream media, and Bill Gates.
STU: Right.
GLENN: You put those two things together. You know you have something special. You really do.
So is NBC suing MSNBC?
STU: No.
GLENN: We can't have our name on that.
STU: They're spinning them off.
MSNBC is spinning off NBC into its own separate company.
They're apparently hiring right now. Because they're losing access to the NBC newsroom. So they need to hire a new batch of horrible journalists. That will make a mockery of the profession, to bring over there.
GLENN: When does -- when does this happen?
When does this go through?
STU: The official change. I don't know. This is the first date they're announcing the new name.
Let's see if I can find when that actually happens. It launched, by the way, in 1996, in case you were wondering how long this thing has been around. It seems like it was 1896, or 1796.
GLENN: I know.
STU: So --
GLENN: So -- and actually, it had some credibility at the very beginning.
STU: Yeah.
GLENN: I think Lester Holt started on MSNBC.
STU: Yeah.
GLENN: And back in the '90s.
STU: Yeah, it was seen. It was still left-leaning. But left-leaning the way you would expect every other piece of crap, the mainstream broadcasted. It was like CNN.
It was left-leaning. Not necessarily completely insane.
Now, both of them since then, have gone completely insane.
And they went through the Keith Olbermann period.
They've gone so far off the rails, at this point.
We know what the new name is. You want to guess?
Do you have any idea? It's Crap Cam. Yes, Crap Can News.
GLENN: Oh, that's CCN.
STU: Yeah, different one.
GLENN: Might be too confusing.
All right. Go ahead, what is it?
STU: It's MS Now.
GLENN: So let me see if I have this right. MS hasn't been a part of MSNBC since the turn of the century.
STU: Years and years and years --
GLENN: Right. Yeah, but they're going to keep the MS part, and the N -- and the N.
STU: And the N.
GLENN: They're only changing two letters. That's what it is. They're like, we can just -- we can just cut those two letters out of everything.
And just put O-W there, instead of B-C --
STU: Uh-huh. Now, other than the fact that MS Now sounds like a plea for multiple sclerosis.
Do you -- do you want to take a venture, and guess, as -- as to what this actually stands for?
Each letter stands for something.
GLENN: Oh, it stands for something. It's an acronym.
STU: Yes. MS Now.
GLENN: News.
STU: Yes, you're skipping MS.
News is correct. So that one is right.
GLENN: You have to go to the MS. It's not Microsoft. I have no idea.
STU: Do you want me to tell you what it is?
GLENN: I do. Because I think it will be highly entertaining.
STU: Yeah. My Source News Opinion World.
GLENN: My Source -- so we have -- do they have cavemen working at their -- My Source News Opinion World. World.
Hmm. Fire. Good.
STU: I mean, I will say --
GLENN: My Source News? My Source News Opinion and World?
STU: Yes. Now you're a guy who has done this, right?
GLENN: Uh-huh.
STU: TheBlaze. You came up with GBTV before that. The Torch coming soon to you.
GLENN: The Torch.
STU: You also have many radio stations that you have programmed back in the day, where you would look at what they're presenting. So if you're looking at all that as an expert in this field, how would you grade this rebrand for MSNBC?
GLENN: Does zero count?
Because usually it's ten to one. You know, one to ten.
Can I include zero, or negative numbers?
That is the worst rebranding, I've ever heard.
STU: Yeah. It's really bad.
GLENN: Start fresh from the very beginning.
Come up with something good.
STU: Yeah, but they're trying obviously to bridge this gap to, this is what we've always been. MS gives you a little bit of familiarity. The logo --
GLENN: So wait. Wait. Wait. So it's not MS now. They're going to call it MSNOW?
STU: I think they're going to call it MS Now. I think they're trying to keep the MS as something, you know --
GLENN: Again, the only people think of multiple sclerosis. Nobody thinks -- nobody thinks of Microsoft. They're going to think of multiple sclerosis.
STU: They don't want anybody to think of Microsoft. They haven't been involved in it forever.
GLENN: They would rather -- they would rather have you think of a debilitating disease than Microsoft?
STU: Yes, that is -- that is better than their reputation.
GLENN: Yeah, it is.
STU: The other thing, you could look at it, if you wanted to.
They could go the feminist direction, and call it Miss Now.
That could be something that they could try. Miss Now.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh, is that -- that sounds like something they would love! Because it's -- it indicates to me, it's an absolute guaranteed flaming, just ball of death, as it hits the -- as it hits the ground.
Miss Now. That just sounds like something like, yeah, we should do that. And everybody else is like, no, you will crash this plane into the side of the mountain. It will be a fiery ball of wreckage. It's not good.
STU: To be clear, the plane has only been flying 2 feet off the ground for many, many years. Yes, they might actually crash it this time.
I can see Miss Now actually going to go to be even more comical. Though, it would require them, I think in theory, to define what a woman is. If they went with Miss Now, so that may not work either.
This is a tough one.
GLENN: Yeah, and when is this happening?
STU: I think -- I have not seen the exact date.
It's supposed to be soon. The spin-off was announced last winter.
They initially said, they would be keeping its name. But then during the transitional period, they decided that they would need a new separate identity.
GLENN: So can I ask you: Why -- why -- who is making these decisions and hiring?
NBC? Is NBC like, you know what, we're going to staff and design our competitor?
STU: Yeah, kind of.
GLENN: Why would you do that?
STU: Because it does -- one of the statements I saw, said NBC Universal decided. So I guess because they haven't fully spun off yet, they actually are making these decisions. Maybe they have a bet.
GLENN: So they're -- are they keeping it in the Universal Comcast world?
STU: I don't think so.
It's a separate company.
I think it will be sold separate. Separate company.
GLENN: Why wouldn't you just sell the position?
Why wouldn't you just sell the cable access. Like current did.
Remember when current sold it to --
STU: Right.
GLENN: They wouldn't sell it -- Al Gore would not sell current TV to Glenn Beck.
Because I was so un-American in his own words.
That he sold it to Al-Jazeera.
STU: Right. I remember this.
GLENN: You know, the company that bought it with oil money. From Al Gore!
So that made a lot of sense to him.
So why wouldn't -- why wouldn't they just sell that position?
Why wouldn't they just go, it's up for sale?
Why would you buy something that NBC created, that, I mean -- so wait a minute.
You hired everybody. But you hired them because you wouldn't give anybody on NBC a roll there, so you were like -- why would you have hired -- you find anybody good. You would be like, yeah. Save those guys for NBC.
This guy belongs at Miss Now. That's what we're calling it, from here on out.
STU: Miss Now.
GLENN: Miss Now. It's just too good.
STU: Now, remember too, at one point, Elon Musk contemplated the potential purchase of MSNBC.
GLENN: He's smarter than that. Why would you want a cable news company? What is he in, a time machine?
Get back into a time machine. You know, I would like to do that, and I would like a printing press too.
STU: That's a fair point.
I will say, and the color scheme.
And the logo is really basic.
It looks terrible, honestly.
And I -- this is going to go, I think poorly, Glenn. Poorly.
GLENN: That's saying something.
When MSNBC is designing something that you think might be worse than MSNBC.
STU: Shocking. Shocking, you could do it. You know, if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything, Glenn.
Including making MSNBC even worse.
GLENN: That's like if we designed it.
Honestly, it would be like, okay. All right.
Let's hire a bunch of lefties.
We will call it Miss Now.
We will -- we will lead with, oh, my gosh.
Look at that. We're -- we're going to lead with guy cheerleaders, and Communism.
It's going to be big!
I mean, that sounds like something I would design, for them. To either make fun of them. Or just to be -- let's see if we can -- do you remember when I told you, I went to that opera called The Nose? I took my daughter to the opera. She loved opera.
And it was -- honestly, I don't know what the story was.
But it was -- the main character was a nose. So it's a giant nose with feet coming out of the nostrils.
And I said, at the time, I said, this has to be -- this was written by somebody who was like, you know, these Ron Paul opera snobs.
I will write this whole thing. It makes no sense. It's awful.
But I'm going to say, oh, no, you just don't get it. You don't get the nose. With the feet coming out?
You don't get it? Well, I guess so. And they sold it, just because opera snobs didn't want to say, I don't get it. Okay?
You had to get it, or you weren't cool!
I think this is what -- I think this is -- this might be.
This may be a play on, how bad can we make this thing? To see if we can get these lefties.
And go, you don't get Miss Now? You don't understand that?
All right. Well, whatever. No, no, no, I get it. I think it's genius. In fact, I want to play more for it.
What a bunch of dopes.