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Tom Llamas will follow Lester Holt in the anchor chairman of NBC’s flagship Weeknight News program NBC Nightly Newsannounced the company on Wednesday.
Holt announced last month that he will decline later this summer after elevating the show over the past decade. The 65-year-old will stay with the network and his energy focuses on a dedicated full-time anchoring at Datelinewhich he has offered for the past 15 years.
In an announcement to staff Wednesday, the executive vice president of NBC News of programming Janelle Rodriguez noted that except for Holt took over NBC Nightly NewsLlamas will continue to anchor Top story with Tom Llamas Every week night on the network’s digital streaming service NBC News now. Llama’s will also serve as the managing editor of NBC Nightly News.
Llamas, who joined ABC in 2021 at NBC, served as Holt’s regular fill in NBC Nightly News Since arriving at the network and long ago, he was expected to take over the anchor chair when Holt finally stepped aside. During his time at ABC he was the main correspondent of the network and served as the weekend anchor of ABC World News tonight. He also regularly filled in on weekdays for chief anchor David Muir. Llamas started his career at NBC Universal, and worked as internally at Telemundo and NBC News before working as a reporter for different NBC local stations.
‘His seasoned background – both in the field and at the desk – positions him unique to the legacy of Nightly News”Rodriguez said in her memo.
“In addition to the broadcast, Tom played an important role in the growth of NBC News in the leading Streaming News network, which helped introduce NBC News to a new generation viewers,” she added. “On a personal note, he is a dedicated father and man who brings humanity and perspective to his reporting.”
Llamas, which also appeared on NBCs regularly Today displayssaid in a statement that anchoring the network’s Weeknight News program is “an in -depth honor and has a tremendous responsibility”, adding that he is “looking for the work with the world -class journalists at Nightly News”. He also praised the man he replaced.
“Lester Holt is a wonderful man and one of the most reliable broadcasters of our time,” he notes. “Just like Lester, I promise to be devoted to our viewers and be committed to the truth.”
HOLT is expected to formally report to NBC Nightly News in the early summer and will pass to anchor Dateline in a full -time capacity at the time. The date of Llamas’ anchor debut on NBC Nightly News still need to be determined.
With Llamas retaining his role at Top storyWhat will be broadcast at 19:00, he will become the first solo evening broadcast anchor to anchor a Primetime Weekday Streaming Newscast.
While NBC Nightly News’ ratings have remained steady, on average about 7 million total viewers per night, it still stays behind Muir and ABC’s World News tonight. According to Nielsen, World news Last month, 8.3 million viewers moved in and exceeded NBC in the Key 25-54 advertising demographic. At the same time, however, Nightly News Recently, the gap with ABC in the 25-54 demo closed to its nearest level in years.
Holt moving for Llamas comes to a time of revolution and discomfort with not only NBC, but also the television news industry as a whole. Broadcasting and cable networks shook their business models amid relentless cord cut, sinking viewer and falling advertising revenue, which also led to many media companies reducing payroll and revising programming. ABC News, for example, has just announced on Wednesday that it has cut about six percent of its staff and closed the political data grounds Fivethirtyeight, while CNN also recently released hundreds of staff members as it wants to turn to a digital first company.
Last year, veteran Today Hoda Kotb host left NBC after the network asked her to take a cut to her solid $ 20 million salary. In the meantime, former Meet the press Moderator Chuck Todd resigned with NBC in January after 17 years after seeing that his role was greatly reduced and his Sunday show taken from him.
Elsewhere across the television news landscape, other prominent names or left their networks completely or walked away from the anchor chair. Norah O’Donnell Links CBS Evening News Earlier this year to adopt a correspondent’s role with the network, while Stalwarts such as Fox News’ Neil Cavuto and Chris Wallace of CNN have left their networks over the past few months, rather than taking reduced salaries.
