LAUREN GREEN: I was Fox News Channel's first on-air hire. Here's how a dream became a powerhouse

During those first weeks, a ragtag crew of producers and writers and I were tasked with churning out practice newscasts to see how it would feel to do seven minutes of news at the top and bottom of every hour. It was a daunting task, as we were also creating a format and learning what worked and what didn't. Pretty soon, we moved off-site to a rented studio to have greater access to cameras and equipment before the launch.

In the summer of 1996, for those who are old enough to remember, the blockbuster movie "Independence Day" was released. It was a 20th Century Fox product, part of the Fox family. It made more than $100 million during its opening week. And I thought, "Wow! This cable network is bound for success if this is the kind of quality handiwork it puts out."

That prediction proved truer than I could have imagined. Today, Fox News is the number one cable news outlet. It is a juggernaut that others are chasing and seeking to emulate, if only in style, if not substance.

Studio space has expanded exponentially as Fox has taken over the entire ground level and several floors of 1211 Avenue of the Americas. The newsroom is a new, state-of-the-art facility on the second floor (the C-1 space is now a company fitness center).

I've got a new office, which I continually fill to the gills with books about religion and theology. And many of the producers with whom I work today were not born yet or were still in diapers or pre-K when Fox launched in 1996.