National broadcaster Will Cain says the boldness that has opened doors for him throughout his career comes from two sources: The Texan spirit and “a dad who filled [him] with irrational confidence.” Cain, host of an eponymous television show and podcast, landed the weekday 3pm CST time slot on Fox News Channel in early 2025. His reception has been exceptional.
During Q1 2025, Fox News Channel’s newest program “The Will Cain Show” averaged 2.6 million viewers and 312,000 in the demo among 25–54-year-old adults—a 74 percent increase in viewers over the 2024 average for the same time slot. The show surpassed “CBS Mornings” (2,019,000 viewers), NBC’s “Today Third Hour” (1,952,000 viewers), and ABC’s “GMA3” (1,437,000 viewers).
The Sherman, Texas native remembers watching his mother’s favorite news broadcast, “The Today Show,” and being inspired by hosts such as Matt Lauer and Katie Couric. “I thought ‘I want to be in news and sports,’” Cain recalls. Wanderlust eventually led him to Malibu, California, where he walked on to the water polo team and pursued a degree in telecommunications at Pepperdine University.
He scored a single goal during his collegiate athletic career, but says the experience taught him lifelong lessons. “I learned I [wasn’t] one of the best. In fact, I [was] one of the worst. Then, I asked myself, ‘Okay, well, are you going to quit? Or are you going to grind it out? How are you going to respond to negative feedback or maybe even the prospect of no real big victory at the end of this?’”
Cain also realized the importance of authenticity in media while at Pepperdine. “I remember being in front of a camera … and feeling like ‘This is teaching me how to be an actor.’ It felt too much like a performance, and I didn’t like that,” he says. So, upon graduating, he pursued a law degree at The University of Texas at Austin, inspired in part by his father, who was a plaintiff’s attorney. He passed the Texas Bar Exam and took a gap year, working for a hunting outfitter in Montana while he wrote and published a novel.
Cain returned to Texas in 2001, bought a hyperlocal newspaper company, and launched a magazine and event company focused on helping families plan for quinceñeras. After a few years, he sold the newspaper, but the event company and magazine had failed. Then living in New York, Cain wanted his next venture to be one he was truly passionate about. His sights returned to his childhood dream—working in television broadcasting. “I was very invested in what I was seeing on T.V. and how we were having these conversations [about an important time in America]. I decided at that time that that was what I wanted to do.”
While trying to launch a show, Cain developed a relationship with conservative magazine National Review. “My deal with National Review was ‘I’ll do this for free, if you introduce me to everyone you know in television,’” Cain says. The connection ultimately led to his first television appearance on “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
While hunting for a full-time gig, Cain guessed the email of the president of CNN and sent him his reel. “I’ve never been afraid of hearing no, but you have to ask someone who has the power to say yes,” he says. The president responded, and Cain became a contributor and conservative voice for the network.
He worked for CNN for five years before shifting to sports commentating on ESPN’s “First Take” in 2015. There, he often served as the voice of contention. “Through my career, I’ve become very comfortable 100 percent being authentic to me and succeeding or failing based on the worthiness of that,” Cain says. He also began hosting his own show on ESPN radio, “The Will Cain Show” in 2018.
In 2020, Cain returned to Fox as a co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend,” working alongside now U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and television personality Rachel Campos-Duffy. The three created a lasting bond rare in the media industry. “It’s the most special show I’ve ever been involved in in my now 15 years of television,” Cain says. He launched “The Will Cain Show” podcast a year later, around the time when he and his wife decided to return to the Dallas area to raise their two boys as Texans.
“I love the spirit of what it means to be a Texan,” Cain says. “It’s highly risk tolerant; it’s entrepreneurial; it’s built upon the backs of frontiersmen and wildcatters. It’s people who were willing to stake it all for a better claim in this world and a better claim in their family. It is so bold,” Cain says.
Cain commuted to New York for four years to continue hosting “Fox & Friends Weekend.” Then, leadership offered him his own television show, replacing Neil Cavuto. The network even allowed him to record from DFW. Now, Cain has developed a multiplatform digital show. Fox hopes to build him a recording studio in Dallas, where he can host on-set guest interviews and continue innovating around his show format. “I have a vision in mind, and I think within six to 12 months, we are going to see that come to fruition,” Cain says.
“I love the spirit of what it means to be a Texan. It’s highly risk tolerant; it’s entrepreneurial; it’s built upon the backs of frontiersmen and wildcatters.”