- 4. Rachel Maddow
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Few could have predicted the rapid ascent of Rachel Maddow, a former Air America radio host, when she was gifted her own show by scrappy cable network MSNBC last fall. The channel quickly scored record ratings in Maddow’s 9 p.m. slot, doubling the audience figures of a year previous. It helped that we were in the midst of one of the most-watched elections in history, but the fact that the first openly gay host of a prime-time news show continues to best ratings for CNN veteran Larry King is a powerful reflection of shifting tides.
Currently writing a book about the influence of politics on the U.S. military, Maddow and her partner, artist Susan Mikula, live a low-key life in rural western Massachusetts where -- she told one reporter -- "people care about whether you have shoveled out your mailbox, and people don't really care whether you are beating Hannity."
Few could have predicted the rapid ascent of Rachel Maddow, a former Air America radio host, when she was gifted her own show by scrappy cable network MSNBC last fall. The channel quickly scored record ratings in Maddow’s 9 p.m. slot, doubling the audience figures of a year previous. It helped that we were in the midst of one of the most-watched elections in history, but the fact that the first openly gay host of a prime-time news show continues to best ratings for CNN veteran Larry King is a powerful reflection of shifting tides. Currently writing a book about the influence of politics on the U.S. military, Maddow and her partner, artist Susan Mikula, live a low-key life in rural western Massachusetts where -- she told one reporter -- "people care about whether you have shoveled out your mailbox, and people don't really care whether you are beating Hannity."
