(This interview has been edited for length and clarity)
Let’s jump back to 2005 when Mad Money debuted on CNBC. It was such a different world—and TV landscape—from where we are now. Did you think that you’d still be talking about the show 20 years later?
Regina Gilgan: The honest answer to that is no. We’ve gotten used to it now, but 20 years ago no one had ever picked stocks on television before and that’s the basic element of the show! Also Jim was this really unique personality who had been on television a bunch, but hadn’t really been unleashed. That’s the thing that’s helped us be on the air for so long—he has an incredible ability to connect directly with people.
The visual language of the show was unique at the time as well. Did you go through any trial and error in figuring out how it would look?
Jim Cramer: I had the good fortune of having had a radio show, but moving into the television medium was something exciting and new. [Former ABC News president] Roone Arledge used to say, “You have to pop, so when they’re turning the dial they have to stop.” You were very conscious that you had to do things that were out of your comfort zone to get people to stop, listen, and learn.
Gilgan: You know, Jim still doesn’t really have a chair on-set. We also used steadicams, which are common now, but not so much then. We built a visual vocabulary with our viewers where the camera kind of lived and breathed with Jim, and that helped the show feel personal. It’s also the reason why Jim can hardly walk down the street without people coming up to him, whether it’s a CEO, a security guard, or a taxi driver. Our goal has always been to democratize the market and speak to people in a different way.
Jim, to your point about going from radio to television, it’s interesting that we’re now seeing podcasts give way to video podcasts. Do you see that as part of your legacy?
Cramer: If you’re already doing radio and TV, there’s a nice synergy between the two in terms of what podcasts are becoming. I go to weddings for my kids’ friends and someone always say, “I heard this thing on a podcast.” It’s almost to the point where I go, “Are you kidding me?” [Laughs] But it’s also a common parlance, and a method to convey thoughts like the streaming product I do for my investment club. Younger people find different things to watch—they just have an aversion to the traditional. Fortunately, we aren’t traditional, so they don’t share that aversion with us.
