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The 2000s in America

Maddow, Rachel

by Ann Cameron

Identification: American radio and television personality

Born: April 1, 1973; Castro Valley, California

In 1999, while writing her doctoral dissertation in western Massachusetts, Rhodes Scholar Rachel Anne Maddow responded to an open audition at the local radio station, WRNX in Holyoke. She was so successful at the audition that the station manager offered her a job during the commercial break. Maddow went on to cohost the Dave in the Morning Show for a year before she returned to Oxford University to finish her degree in political science. Upon completion of her PhD in 2001, Maddow returned to Northampton, Massachusetts, and the Big Breakfast show on WRSI.

When liberal radio station Air America began broadcasting in 2004, Maddow was asked to join talk show hosts Chuck D and Lizz Winstead on Unfiltered. When that show was cancelled in 2005, Maddow began hosting her own two-hour radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show. (Air America ceased operations in 2010.) In the same year, Maddow was asked to counter more conservative viewpoints and commentary on MSNBC’s Tucker and CNN’s Paula Zahn Now. In 2008, MSNBC hired Maddow as a regular contributor, where she first appeared as a panelist for David Gregory’s Race to the White House and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. She eventually stepped in as substitute host for both programs.

In August 2008, Maddow was offered her own show with MSNBC. The Rachel Maddow Show premiered on September 8, 2008. Within weeks, she doubled the ratings for the cable network for that hour, beating her 9:00 p.m. rivals at Fox and CNN. While Maddow’s ratings have leveled out, she still leads CNN for that time slot. Her reviews have noted her firm grasp of policy and her polite but relentless style in examining those who appear on her show. Characterized as “postpartisan,” Maddow was also credited with applying equal pressure to both those who share her political ideals and those who hold different views.

Rachel Maddow hosts former vice president Al Gore on The Rachel Maddow Show

AUGHTS_MaddowRachel.jpg

(Courtesy)

Impact

As an anchor, Maddow has been recognized for her detailed knowledge of public policy and her fearlessness in questioning guests (often politicians) on their past statements and voting history. Maddow is the first openly gay anchor to be hired to host a prime-time news program in the US, and is considered the ideological foil to cable news anchors like Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly.

Further Reading

1 

Kurtz, Howard. “You Were Expecting Olbermann?.” Newsweek 157.10 (2011): 34–37. Print.

2 

Traister, Rebecca. “Mad For Rachel Maddow.” Nation 287.5 (2008): 22–24. Print.

3 

Wallace-Wells, Ben. “Rachel Maddow’s Quiet War. (Cover Story).” Rolling Stone 1160/1161 (2012): 62–116. Print.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Cameron, Ann. "Maddow, Rachel." The 2000s in America, edited by Craig Belanger, Salem Press, 2013. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=2000_0236.
APA 7th
Cameron, A. (2013). Maddow, Rachel. In C. Belanger (Ed.), The 2000s in America. Salem Press.
CMOS 17th
Cameron, Ann. "Maddow, Rachel." Edited by Craig Belanger. The 2000s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2013. Accessed September 18, 2025. online.salempress.com.