Today anchor Hoda Kotb has ceded her seat to Craig Melvin, as one of television’s most iconic morning shows undergoes yet another evolution
Today is a new day for Craig Melvin . . . or at least, it’s about to be. The anchor for the weekday edition of NBC’s news and chat program is getting a major promotion — and one that doesn’t come along all that often in the realm of morning television. Beginning Monday, he’ll succeed Hoda Kotb as Savannah Guthrie’s fellow host on Today, joining a relatively exclusive club of people who have filled that position. Interestingly, Melvin starts his new role just past 73 years to the day Today premiered: January 14, 1952. Kotb announced in September that she would be leaving Today after seven years alongside Guthrie, and though she plans to continue with NBC News in a different capacity, she is also departing her berth on Today With Hoda and Jenna — the fourth hour of Today, which will continue with Jenna Bush Hager and various co-hosts (at least initially) as Today With Jenna & Friends. Upon announcing her impending exit from the show, Kotb seemed utterly at peace with her decision, telling co-host Guthrie: “I have everything I want. I’m not risking something. I have the love of my family. I have wonderful colleagues who will be my friends forever. I have it. So I didn’t feel like, ‘What am I losing?’”
That assurance came, perhaps, as a result of the fact that she’d been feeling a bit of wanderlust creeping into her psyche for a while now. “The whispers were very quiet, and then as they went on they became much louder, to a point where you almost couldn’t not listen,” Kotb said. “In different forms, it was saying, ‘You’re an adventurer.’ It was saying, ‘You need time with your kids. It was saying, ‘What’s this next chapter?’ It was saying, ‘Have you done it all?’”
As for her replacement? Melvin feels ready to take the baton from his longtime NBC colleague. “I am beyond excited and grateful,” he said on-air at Today when he was officially announced as Kotb’s successor. “I want to thank NBC and the folks who deemed me worthy, but I’ve got to start by thanking the man upstairs, the Lord above and his son, Jesus. I’ve enjoyed just a lifetime of blessings and this is the latest in a long line of blessings.”
A contributor to NBC’s coverage of many events from political conventions to Olympics, Melvin is planning to remain as a co-anchor of Today 3rd Hour — a role he’s had regularly for the past six years. His NBC News tenure dates back to 2011, when he became an MSNBC anchor and a reporter for all NBC platforms after he spent three years on the weekend-evening desk for WRC-TV, the network’s owned-and-operated affiliate in Washington, D.C. There, he worked with his future wife, sportscaster Lindsay Czarniak, who went on to report for ESPN and other outlets. Before his time in the nation’s capital, Melvin was an anchor, reporter, producer and even a photographer for NBC station WIS-TV in his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina.
Looking back on this particular morning show’s illustrious history, Today debuted with Dave Garroway as host in 1952, and he was succeeded in 1961 by John Chancellor, who stayed just over a year before Hugh Downs assumed the job. Downs was joined by the soon-to-be-iconic Barbara Walters in 1966, and she sat beside Frank McGee (1971-’74) and Jim Hartz (1974-’76) during her storied tenure. Though she had only a brief Today stint in 1976 after Walters left, Betty Furness was there for the arrival of Tom Brokaw, who stayed until 1981 and welcomed Jane Pauley to the show several weeks after he began. Brokaw’s successor, Bryant Gumbel, started in 1982; Deborah Norville replaced Pauley in 1991, and she was replaced in turn by Katie Couric after just a year. Matt Lauer’s time as a Today co-host started in 1997, and he was with Meredith Vieira (2006-’11) and Ann Curry (2011-’12) for the duration of their Today stints. The aforementioned Guthrie began in 2012, and, alas, Lauer’s scandal-ridden departure in 2017 brought in Kotb — first as a fill-in anchor and then more permanently.
Now, Melvin gets his turn in one of the most prominent, coveted, iconic positions in all of broadcast television.
Today airs Monday to Friday, on NBC