Back More
Salem Press

The 1990s in America

Bill O’Reilly

by Bernadette Zbicki Heiney

Identification Broadcast journalist and political commentator

A prominent broadcast journalist during the 1990’s, O’Reilly launched the popular but controversial cable news program The O’Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel.

Bill O’Reilly earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Marist College in 1971 and a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1976. O’Reilly then spent the next two decades working as a news reporter and/or anchor at numerous television news stations across the United States, including WNEP-TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon. Following a three-year stint as a news correspondent for ABC World News Tonight, O’Reilly was hired in 1989 by King World Productions as a correspondent for the newly created syndicated program Inside Edition. The program, which competed with other tabloid news programs such as Hard Copy and A Current Affair, included a mix of crime stories, investigative news stories, and celebrity reporting. Shortly after the program’s inception, O’Reilly replaced the show’s original anchor, David Frost.

Bill O’Reilly, seen here in 1993, hosted the tabloid news show Inside Edition from 1989 to 1995.

ph_OReilly_Bill.jpg

O’Reilly was popular with television audiences during the 1990’s, and his reports about working-class issues brought a legitimacy to the television show and solidified his professional status as a news anchor. In 1995, he left the television show to attend the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he earned his master’s degree in public administration. In 1996, Roger Ailes, the chief executive officer of the fledgling Fox News Channel, hired O’Reilly to produce and host his own television show, The O’Reilly Report. It premiered on October 7, 1996, and his first guest was General Barry McCaffrey, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Shortly after the show debuted, its name was changed to The O’Reilly Factor. Maintaining complete creative control of the hour-long news program, O’Reilly declared his show to be the “no spin zone,” where news reports contained just the facts without any political spin. Both liberal and conservative guests were invited to his program in an attempt to fairly cover the issues. His confrontational interview style and strong political commentary also made him popular with viewers and set his show apart from competing news programs, such as the Cable News Network’s (CNN) Larry King Live. In 1998, O’Reilly published his first book, Those Who Trespass, a fictional story about the world of broadcast journalism.

Impact

Through diligence and hard work, Bill O’Reilly became a leading news anchor during the 1990’s. His strong opinions and aggressive interviewing style, while controversial, made him popular with the American public. With the launch of The O’Reilly Factor in 1996, he helped change the way news was delivered to American television audiences.

Further Reading

1 

Kitman, Marvin. The Man Who Would Not Shut Up: The Rise of Bill O’Reilly. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007.

2 

O’Reilly, Bill. The O’Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life. New York: Broadway Books, 2000.

3 

_______. The No Spin Zone: Confrontations with the Powerful and Famous in America. New York: Broadway Books, 2001.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Heiney, Bernadette Zbicki. "Bill O’Reilly." The 1990s in America, edited by Milton Berman, Salem Press, 2009. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=1990_1418.
APA 7th
Heiney, B. Z. (2009). Bill O’Reilly. In M. Berman (Ed.), The 1990s in America. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Heiney, Bernadette Zbicki. "Bill O’Reilly." Edited by Milton Berman. The 1990s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2009. Accessed October 22, 2025. online.salempress.com.