Steve Doocy

Doocy was born in Algona, Iowa, the son of JoAnne (née Sharp) and James Edward Doocy, who worked in sales and construction. His paternal grandfather was of Irish descent and his maternal grandmother was of Swedish descent.[2][3] He was raised in Abilene, Kansas, and attended Kansas grade schools in Russell, Salina, and Industry.[4] Doocy went to junior high in Wakefield and high school in Clay Center, Kansas. He graduated from the University of Kansas, in Lawrence, with a BS in Journalism. He was the first on-air DJ for KJHK radio, the student-operated radio station at 90.7 FM in Lawrence.[4][5][6]

Early in his career, Doocy anchored the morning newscast on CBS-TV's flagship station, WCBS-TV, in New York City. Previously, he was the co-host of Wake Up America on NBC cable and host of the nationally syndicated program House Party with Steve Doocy, a remake of the 1960s Art Linkletter show, and the host of the syndicated kids' series Not Just News. For six years, Doocy was the Emmy Award-winning features reporter for WRC, in Washington, D.C., and the NBC Television Stations division. His early television posts included news reporter positions in Kansas City, Wichita, Topeka, and Des Moines. He was the live Times Square reporter on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on ABC-TV for four ball drops.[4][6]

Doocy joined the Fox News Channel in 1996, and began co-hosting the network's morning show Fox & Friends in 1998. In 2004, he helped launch Fox News Channel's New Year's Eve special, All American New Year, whose hosts have included Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly.[6]

The Fox & Friends program gained prominence after the presidential election of Donald Trump, who had been a regular on-air contributor to the program for a number of years before the campaign. Once elected, Trump called it, "the most honest morning show."[7] During his first year as president, Trump continued to watch and often quoted the program on Twitter.[8] This prompted the New York Times to call Fox & Friends "the most powerful TV show in America."[9]

Doocy is implicated in Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit against Roger Ailes. The lawsuit alleges: "Doocy engaged in a pattern and practice of severe and pervasive sexual harassment of Carlson, including, but not limited to, mocking her during commercial breaks, shunning her off air, refusing to engage with her on air, belittling her contributions to the show, and generally attempting to put her in her place by refusing to accept and treat her as an intelligent and insightful female journalist rather than a blond female prop."[10] According to the complaint, Doocy "created a hostile work environment by regularly treating her in a sexist and condescending way, including by putting his hand on her and pulling down her arm to shush her during a live telecast."[11]

In 2019, it was revealed that President Donald Trump ranked the loyalty of many reporters, on a scale of 1 to 10. Steve Doocy received a "12 out of 10." [12]

On September 15, 2020, Doocy made news when he challenged President Trump's announcement of a series of weekly appearances on Fox and Friends. Doocy responded:"You may want to do it every week, but Fox is not committed to that. We're going to take it on a case by case basis."[13] Doocy extended an invitation for Joe Biden to appear on the program, offering him equal airtime to Trump.[14]

Doocy has written two New York Times bestsellers. The first is about marriage and family life, titled The Mr. and Mrs. Happy Handbook. The second is about fatherhood, titled Tales from the Dad Side.[4] When asked why he wrote the book, he told The 700 Club on TV, "I wanted to write that book just to show that dads are out there – we don't know exactly what we're doing. We're doing our best and we love our kids. There aren't so many books for guys. It's not like we get a lot of advice from our dads, 'Just hold him still; he'll stop crying.' And, ad lib – what I learned early is that while guys like to have plans, you should plan to ad lib. There's a lot of ad libbing in the dad department."[15] Both books are published by William Morrow and Company, a division of HarperCollins.

Doocy is married and has three children, including fellow Fox News reporter Peter Doocy. He lives in Wyckoff, New Jersey.[16] He is Roman Catholic and serves as a lector in his church.[17]

• New Yorkers in journalism

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Steve Doocy.

• Steve Doocy on Twitter