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10 Things You Should Know About MSNBC Weekend Ratings Queen Joy Reid

10 Things You Should Know About MSNBC Weekend Ratings Queen Joy Reid

Written by Ann Brown

Apr 09, 2018

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MSNBC’s Joy Reid is on the top of the cable news ratings game. Reid’s show, “AM Joy”, wrapped up the first quarter of 2018 with the highest quarterly ratings in the 10 a.m.-to-noon slot, and in the process made MSNBC history.

The two-hour weekend morning show beat CNN in the time slot with an average total audience of 1.287 million.

While Reid’s show and ratings coup are all the right now, here are some things you might not know about the 48-year-old news pundit and show host.

1. She’s the daughter of immigrants

Reid’s parents immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1960s. Her father came from then-Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and her mom mother came from British Guiana by way of London. Her parents met in grad school in Iowa.

“My father was one of those African technocrats who came over with the goal of going back and helping run the country,” Reid told Vulture. “He was a geologist who primarily worked in South Africa in mining. My mother was a nutritionist and ended up as a college professor in Denver. They went from Iowa to New York, where I was born, then to Denver, which is where I grew up.”

2. She’s an author

In 2015, Reid wrote “Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons and the Racial Divide,” a book about politics and race.

3. She’s a professor

Reid teaches a class at Syracuse University exploring race, gender and the media.

4. She’s a ‘Keeper Of The Dream’

Reid will be honored on April 18 at the National Action Network’s “Keepers of the Dream Awards” along with rapper Common; Richelieu Dennis, owner of Essence and Founder and CEO OF Sundial Brands; Human Rights Activist and author Kerry Kennedy; and Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman/CEO of Vista Equity.

5. She doesn’t like the word ‘no’

“I try to say yes, which drives my team a little bit crazy because I tend to say yes maybe a little too much,” Reid told Fast Company.

6. She almost became a doctor

Reid was all set to study medicine at Harvard University but her mother’s death from breast cancer caused her to rethink her career path. She took a year off from school and stayed with an aunt in Brooklyn who was working a temp job at Columbia Pictures. This inspired Reid to change her major to documentary filmmaking.

7. Reid’s followers call themselves #Reiders

Reid has 1.17 million followers on Twitter and 81,600 followers on Instagram. Her followers or fans call themselves #reiders, according to the New York Times.

8. Late to bed, early to rise

On weekends when she’s filming her show, Reid wakes up 5:45 am, and she goes to bed between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m., she told Fast Company.

9. Her 1st MSNBC interview was about Whitney Houston’s death

Reid’s first exposure on MSNBC was following the death of singer Whitney Houston. The network interviewed Reid on air about the tragic incident.

10. Reid was raised by a single mom and times were often tough

“I was a glasses-wearing nerd kid. I wanted contact lenses, but my mom didn’t have the money, so I started working,” Reid told Vulture. “I worked at a preschool taking care of kids. I babysat. I just had an entrepreneurial mindset, and also I would help out with groceries or whatever was needed. I think it was a perfectly fine way to be raised. I’m kind of offended when people say single moms ruin kids. My single mom did an awesome job.”

Joy Reid speaks during the during the TIME 100 Summit, Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
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