In 2001,
Fox & Friends, which aired from to
Eastern Time Zone, was expanded by an hour to start at . The new hour was branded
Fox & Friends First and was co-anchored by
Alisyn Camerota. In July 2008, the hour was replaced by a third hour of
Fox & Friends, and Camerota was named permanent anchor of the weekend edition of
Fox & Friends. which was replaced in January 2012 following
American Mornings cancellation by the two-hour
Early Start.
MSNBC already had started its news programming at that hour with two half-hour shows:
Morning Joe First Look, a general news program which had aired since the mid-2000s, and
Way Too Early (which leads into
Morning Joe), which debuted in July 2009. In March 2012, Fox News confirmed that it was expanding its morning programming to begin at . It debuted on March 5, 2012. In its first week on the air,
Fox & Friends First averaged more total viewers than other programs at CNN and MSNBC in the same time slot combined. In October 2017, Fox News announced that the show will be expanded to two hours from to . The hour would be anchored solely by
Heather Childers, and
Jillian Mele and
Rob Schmitt would present the hour. In July 2020, Childers had parted ways with Fox News after executives had expressed concern and anger about her coming to work and appearing visibly ill on air several months earlier during the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Jillian Mele was replaced by Carley Shimkus as a co-anchor. In June 2023, Fox News announced that the show would be ending its 4am EST hour and only broadcasting from 5–6am EST with Shimkus and Piro remaining as co-hosts. == Location ==