Philly native Jesse Watters will take Tucker Carlson’s old Fox News timeslot

Philly native Jesse Watters has been promoted to Fox News’ 8 p.m. hour, taking over the time slot left vacant by Tucker Carlson in April.

The move is part of a larger network overhaul to help combat a decline in viewership that began when Carlson left, Variety reports. Previously, Watters held the 7 p.m. time slot.

“Fox News Channel has been America’s destination for news and analysis for more than 21 years and we are thrilled to debut a new lineup,” Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in a statement. “The unique perspectives of Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, and Greg Gutfeld will ensure our viewers have access to unrivaled coverage from our best-in-class team for years to come.”

Watters grew up in Germantown and East Falls and has worked for Fox News since 2002, moving through the ranks from a production assistant to gaining fame for combative man-on-the-street interviews for former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.

In 2017, he became a cohost for the roundtable show, The Five. By 2022, he was promoted to his 7 p.m. hosting slot.

Watters comes from a family with media ties. His great-grandfather published the Saturday Evening Post and his maternal grandfather was the publisher of Better Homes & Gardens, according to Insider.

He attended the Quaker William Penn Charter School before his family moved to Long Island. He graduated from Trinity College in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in history.

At Trinity, he became interested in conservative politics, Watters wrote in his book, How I Saved the World. Throughout his book, Watters mentioned taking delight in provoking his self-described liberal family. Sometimes on air, he’ll read texts from his mom aloud.

“You end up presenting a lack of a moral compass, honey,” Watters quoted her saying during a segment on the Robert Mueller investigation in 2018. “We all know you are a Trumpet — you need not scream it.”

Watters remains an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump and has promoted false theories about the 2020 election. He was forced to walk back his praise of QAnon, a group of conspiracy theorists who believe Democrats and Hollywood celebrities are engaged in human trafficking and child abuse.

The new lineup follows Carlson’s abrupt ousting, which was announced less than a week after Fox Corp settled for $787.5 million in a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems.

» READ MORE: Tucker Carlson out at Fox News in surprise announcement

Before his departure, Carlson’s Tucker Carlson Tonight was the highest-rated cable news program among the 25-to-54 age group on the most-watched U.S. cable news network, Reuters reported.

But viewership has taken a downturn, falling well below the 3 million mark Carlson regularly claimed, according to Variety.

Fox said Watters’ Jesse Watters Primetime has earned over 2.6 million viewers to date — 270,000 from the 25-to-54 age group — since launching last year.

Media experts have anticipated the promotion since Carlson’s departure, calling Watters a natural for the gig.

“He’s able to laugh at himself, which takes the edge off a little bit,” Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple told Insider.

Other moves include shifting Greg Gutfield to the 10 p.m. prime-time block, where he’ll replace Laura Ingraham, who will go on at 7 p.m. instead.

The new lineup goes into effect on July 17.

Since leaving Fox, Carlson has launched a show of his own, Tucker on Twitter, which is — as the name suggests — published on the social media platform. His inaugural episode has been viewed over 100 million times.

Fox News filed a lawsuit against Carlson, saying he had breached his contract with the network by debuting the Twitter show. A lawyer representing Carlson refuted the claims on the grounds of free speech.

Carlson has not publicly commented on the news of Watters inheriting his old time slot.

Staff writer Rob Tornoe contributed to this article.