Dennis Kneale Interview…

The Business Insider’s Vince Veneziani has an interview with CNBC’s Dennis Kneale…

In early June, CNBC plans to slice the daily two-hour format of “Power Lunch” in half, airing it just an hour a day to make room for a new half-hour show anchored by David Faber and a half-hour “Fast Money Halftime Report.”

It isn’t clear whether all four anchors of “Power Lunch” will hold on to their spots in the one-hour remake. Kneale himself admits he doesn’t know: “They haven’t told us,” he says of CNBC brass.

This just as Dennis’s contract is due to run out at CNBC. After a 25-year career at The Wall Street Journal and Forbes Magazine, he joined CNBC in October of 2007. Given that the average contract in television is three years, that means his contract is likely coming up for renewal this fall. So far, CNBC hasn’t told him whether it will keep him around. “All my life I’ve worked at basically three places. I’m not sure what I’ll do,” he says.

Kneale’s story of his time at CNBC is interwoven with interesting tales. He got a shot at his own show in late April of last year. CNBC asked him to solo anchor, for one week, the 8:00 PM show “CNBC Reports.” He invented his own catch-phrase – “I’m sellin’ the hope!” — and picked a nasty fight with bloggers. He also tangled with market doomsayers and recited his mantra: “We’re gonna be okay.”

Update: The tweets are flying on this story…

Yes, Dennis…this was pretty self-destructive. You taking lessons from David Shuster or what?