As a student at Principia College in Elsah, Ill., Rob Nelson was so afraid to ask questions in class that he wrote them down instead. Evidently he's conquered his fear. Nelson, JD '98, now hosts The Full Nelson, a weekly talk show on the Fox News Channel. He calls it "Jerry Springer with brains -- smart talk about issues with a fun, daytime feel." Some episodes take on serious topics, like whether people can be "converted" from gay to straight. Others, like "dating and the singles life," are on the lighter side. The show debuted in August and has enjoyed steadily increasing ratings.
Nelson is animated and witty in a mobile-phone interview from a Manhattan Starbucks, where he's taking a break from shooting promos. He playfully tosses around an idea for a segment on the legal system featuring prominent professors as guests: "It would be like the revenge of the Socratic method. 'I say when you can talk.'" He pauses, wondering whether the episode would have broad-based appeal. "People are smarter than TV producers give them credit for," he concludes.
Nelson, 35, got his first taste of television in the early '90s. In those days he was a talk-show guest pushing the agenda of Lead or Leave, the political action group he co-founded to confront Congress about the deficit and Social Security. He is just as opinionated as a talk-show host. "People want fresh ways to look at things; they want to be provoked," he says. "I'm saying what the truth is, even if it makes me vulnerable. I think people like that." He's also written a 300-page "half memoir, half manifesto," Last Call, which will be published in February.
Not bad for a guy who wouldn't speak up in class.
