Fox News Channel host Bill O’Reilly hinted at retiring from his nightly TV show in a new interview with Adweek.
“I don’t know. I go day to day. I don’t want to work this hard much longer,” O’Reilly told Adweek when asked how much longer he wants to host a nightly program. “I know that. Because I work hard. I earn my money.”
O’Reilly has built a media empire, with a series of books, films and historical TV programs.
However, his bread and butter is “The O’Reilly Factor,” which has been the No. 1 show on cable news for 16 years.
O’Reilly told the magazine, “The shocking thing to me is nobody beats me. These young gunslingers, they should be kind of beating me — but they’re not.”
Insiders say that Eric Bolling is openly campaigning to eventually replace O’Reilly, despite the “Factor” namesake being signed through 2017 and unlikely to actually step away anytime soon. When Adweek asked who is emerging as the next Bill O’Reilly, the FNC host didn’t seem confident that anyone would step up right away.
“I think everybody has their own unique presentation,” he said. “There will be somebody that comes. But it’s not as easy as it looks.”
O’Reilly also mentioned that broadcast specials, such as the one Megyn Kelly had earlier this year, take too much time and that broadcasting legend Tom Snyder is the best he’s ever seen on camera.