Students who worry they'll never use their college degree in the real world can take heart from the experience of Lou Dobbs. He majored in economics and wound up as anchor of CNN's Moneyline, the cable network's evening financial news program. Dobbs claims to have made broadcasting his career choice because "it looked like a great deal of fun."

He began broadcasting in towns in the Southwest where the audience consisted of local residents he would meet after work in the grocery store. "They would tell you precisely what they thought--or didn't think--of your reporting," he recalls. Dobbs insists that he occasionally refers to videotape as "film" to make certain he's still in touch with his generation of television broadcasters.

Dobbs was working in Seattle in January 1980 when CNN called and offered the "totally unknown anchor focusing primarily on business" a full-time financial news position. Dobbs was skeptical. He didn't have much faith in the network's future, but was swayed by Ted Turner's salesmanship.

Although audiences for television financial news remain small compared with those of network news broadcasts, the number of viewers is rising. Some observers credit this to a greater awareness of economic issues and to the popularity of mutual funds. Last year CNN announced it was going to beef up its business coverage by launching a new network. CNNFN, which programs 12 daily hours of financial news, debuted in January. Dobbs, who's also a CNN executive vice president, oversaw the expansion. Will audiences watch more financial news? Dobbs says that he's investing "a lot of Ted Turner's money" to find out.

Warren Kalbacker met with Dobbs before and after recent tapings of Moneyline. According to Kalbacker, "Lou Dobbs the reporter did have plenty to say about the economy, the stock market and the media business. Lou Dobbs the Turner executive seemed especially pleased about the year-end performance of another division. He reminded me, 'My company won the World Series.'"

Q 1

PLAYBOY: Can we date television business coverage from 1971, when NBC's bow-tied Irving R. Levine began to report on economic topics?

Lou Dobbs: Around that time. Or really around the time of OPEC. Then you saw business news only when a petrochemical plant blew up, when Wall Street defrauded investors or when OPEC decided to put the squeeze on the West in terms of oil prices and supply. Ted Turner mandated business news on CNN. I didn't give this network much of a chance, but I thought it was worth doing. We put Moneyline on simultaneously with the network start-up in 1980. Much to our surprise and delight we had viewership.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: Mergers and layoffs don't require a whole lot of explanation. Surely you're aware that people can tune in to Moneyline and discover their pink slips are on the way.

Lou Dobbs: Absolutely true. For the past four and a half years I've been reporting some bad news. Corporate layoffs are running at a pace very close to the recession of 1990-1991. Almost as troubling is that our political leaders haven't come up with any solutions about how to create an environment that has greater security and stability. Productivity is a great thing, but when it comes at the cost of questionable benefits and questionable savings for retirement, we have to figure out a way to do better. And that better way won't come from government or serendipity. It will ultimately come from the marketplace.

Q 3

PLAYBOY: Set the daily performance of the stock market in the larger context of American culture.

Lou Dobbs: Now, with some 50 million people investing in the market indirectly through their mutual funds or 401(k)s, the market has personal relevancy as a barometer of net worth. But it also has an almost ritualistic, transcendent importance. It suggests that things are either going well or that there's reason for concern, fear or anxiety. The market becomes a talisman for where we are in our economy on a given day and perhaps where we are in terms of our material life. It suggests the broader condition of our lives. The Dow is great, honey, and so are you.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: Would you care to step out of your anchor's role and gaze into the crystal ball?

Lou Dobbs: One pitfall for a journalist who covers business is that you sometimes confuse being a journalist with being a market expert. But I'm definitely a bull. My sense is that this market will go higher. The economy is strong because of restructuring and the renewed productivity of our workforce. There's so much liquidity out there. There's little in the way of an alternative investment to equities right now.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: Financial journalists rely on clichés to describe stock-market action. Do you have a favorite?

Lou Dobbs: "Rallying" would be my favorite. My least favorite and the most confounding term is "profit taking." The damn stock got sold. Despite my absolute stricture, I find myself using it at least once every two weeks. It's one of those expressions you just can't seem to get away from.