USC grad Ainsley Earhardt a new co-host of ‘Fox & Friends’

Ainsley Earhardt is the new co-host of “Fox & Friends,” Fox News Channel boss Roger Ailes said Tuesday.

Earhardt will take her place on the couch alongside Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade starting Feb. 29. She replaces Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who exited the popular morning show a few weeks ago.

The Spring Valley High School and University of South Carolina journalism school graduate joined Fox News Channel in 2007 and most recently co-hosted its early-morning “Fox & Friends First.”

Ailes called her “a superb team player and an excellent on-air host.”

Before coming to Fox, she anchored at KENS-TV in San Antonio, Texas, and here in Columbia, where she was a morning and noon anchor at WLTX 19 for five years after graduating from USC.

“Fox & Friends” airs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Eastern time.

No replacement for Earhardt at “Fox & Friends First” was announced.