Wackiness aside, they have been assiduous in getting things right: Faber and Kernen in their stock reporting and Haines, more often than not, catching those visiting CEOs on intricate details of their businesses. Haines has become TV business news’ polymath — having to know about Nike one day, General Motors the next, and some obscure biotech company the next, as top executives hunger for the exposure "Squawk Box" gives them to an affluent audience of investors.

"The primary thing you get out of law school is to learn how to organize and think in a disciplined way and that is a great help in covering business news," said Haines. "Another great help is, as a lawyer, you are trained to be skeptical. When I started at CNBC, I was asking questions that no one had asked before simply because I didn’t accept the Wall Street sacred cows."

"Squawk Box" flourished most in the years around the turn of the millennium, when the market frenzy made the show a must-watch for Wall Street types. The mere promotion of an interview Haines might have after a commercial might send a stock up or down several points in those minutes, traders betting on whether the interview would be positive or negative. "It was like being on a high every day, even though we knew it couldn’t last," said Haines. Sometimes, though, Haines had to switch gears, back to his news-anchoring days. The World Trade Center disaster was a morning event and on his watch, as was the initial live footage of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.