Crazy Cramer Wows the College Crowd
Joanna Weiss writes on Boston.com about an unlikely hero among college students, Jim Cramer.
"If "Mad Money" is a business primer, it's a crash course designed for the ADHD set. Cramer has a penchant for madcap props -- he has eaten cereal drenched in soda pop and worn diapers to drill in a point -- and he presides over a busybox of noise machines, pushing buttons like a crazed suburban father. His bulging-vein energy, along with his ability to move markets with yelped suggestions, has drawn the ire of Wall Street traditionalists.
But among college students, Cramer has developed a cult following since the show began broadcasting in March 2005. "Mad Money" is CNBC's top-rated show among 18- to 54-year-olds -- something that surprised the show's producers when they first noticed that college students were calling in. About 60 colleges have asked to be part of an occasional tour that has broadcast from Harvard, the University of Michigan, Columbia, Georgetown, and Boston College. The studio is in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
And for the host, who really is a crazed suburban father, this unlikely audience has led to a new sense of purpose. "This show has given college kids something to talk about with their parents," Cramer, 51, said proudly, a few hours before his BC appearance.
You're flipping through the channels and some guy's throwing a chair. Some guy's shouting at you. Some guy's wearing a diaper," said Mason, a senior at Harvard. "It's sort of compulsively watchable."
Cramer thinks students tune in for his antic personality, for the sense of danger, and for the avalanche of obscure-but-"Google-able" references, both to stocks and to popular culture.
"It's clear that I have no idea where I'm going. It's also clear that I have severe mental problems," he said.
"If "Mad Money" is a business primer, it's a crash course designed for the ADHD set. Cramer has a penchant for madcap props -- he has eaten cereal drenched in soda pop and worn diapers to drill in a point -- and he presides over a busybox of noise machines, pushing buttons like a crazed suburban father. His bulging-vein energy, along with his ability to move markets with yelped suggestions, has drawn the ire of Wall Street traditionalists.
But among college students, Cramer has developed a cult following since the show began broadcasting in March 2005. "Mad Money" is CNBC's top-rated show among 18- to 54-year-olds -- something that surprised the show's producers when they first noticed that college students were calling in. About 60 colleges have asked to be part of an occasional tour that has broadcast from Harvard, the University of Michigan, Columbia, Georgetown, and Boston College. The studio is in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
And for the host, who really is a crazed suburban father, this unlikely audience has led to a new sense of purpose. "This show has given college kids something to talk about with their parents," Cramer, 51, said proudly, a few hours before his BC appearance.
You're flipping through the channels and some guy's throwing a chair. Some guy's shouting at you. Some guy's wearing a diaper," said Mason, a senior at Harvard. "It's sort of compulsively watchable."
Cramer thinks students tune in for his antic personality, for the sense of danger, and for the avalanche of obscure-but-"Google-able" references, both to stocks and to popular culture.
"It's clear that I have no idea where I'm going. It's also clear that I have severe mental problems," he said.
Labels: college students, Jim Cramer
posted by Max Hartshorne at 10:25 AM
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