Garroway and the on-air staff often walked through the newsroom set. Certain NBC affiliates that produce an additional morning newscast for a sister station or digital subchannel may prerecord the local inserts aired during the first one to two hours of Today to focus production responsibilities on just one of their local channels. During the first two hours of the program, local network affiliates are offered a four-minute window at 26 and 56 minutes past the hour to insert a local newsbreak (which usually also includes a local forecast, and in large and mid-sized markets, a brief traffic report) and local advertisements. When Today debuted (it was seen live only in the Eastern Time Zone and Central Time Zone), broadcasting for three hours each morning but seen for only two hours in each time zone. Today maintained its No. 2 status behind GMA from the summer of 2012 until it regained the lead in the aftermath of anchor Matt Lauer’s departure in November 2017.
After the announcement was made (Pauley received an emotional hug from Norville on air), while many at the network wished that the negative publicity caused by Norville’s greater involvement in the program would cease. Viewers were entertained by Fred Muggs (a chimpanzee whose amusing behavior also caused frustration among the program’s staff), particularly Dave Garroway. Every thirty minutes during the initial two hours of the program (weather updates are provided; however), since Al Roker became the weather reporter on January 26, 1996, he conducts an interview at least once during the show instead of the national weather forecast, with only local weather insertions remaining by NBC stations. Before joining the program (several anchors), such as Jim Fleming, Lew Wood, Floyd Kalber, and John Palmer, were experienced journalists. Currently (only two newscasts are presented), positioned at the beginning of each of the first two hours. The two-hour format featured four newscasts — aired once every thirty minutes.
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It has spawned several other shows of a similar type (including ABC’s Good Morning America), and CBS’ now-defunct The Early Show. As late as January 1955, the show was not yet carried in markets such as Denver; the network feed had not extended west of Omaha until the autumn of 1954. In pre-production, the show’s proposed working title was The Rise and Shine Revue. The entertainment magazine Variety reported that 2016 advertising revenue during the first two hours of the show was $508.8 million. Today’s dominance was virtually unchallenged by the other networks until the late 1980s, when it was overtaken by ABC’s Good Morning America.
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NBC was the only national television news outlet in the United States that did not interrupt regular programming to broadcast the moment of silence live. NBC revealed on June 28, 2012, that Ann Curry would no longer co-host Today, and would continue to work for NBC News (where she remained betting and predictions until her departure in January 2015), including continuing to appear on Today. Almost a year after her departure, Vieira returned briefly to Today as a special correspondent for events relating to Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration. That summer, Couric’s anchor seat was filled by various hosts, consisting of Curry, Morales and Campbell Brown (all of whom were considered candidates to replace Couric), until Vieira took over that fall.
Eastern Time, the news set would be put away and the tourism merchandise returned to the floor. The first set placed a functional newsroom in the studio, which Garroway called “the nerve center of the world.” The barrier between backstage and on-stage was virtually nonexistent. On Wednesdays — The Happy Hour with the producers of Jenna & Friends airs, and on Thursdays, Today Show Confidential with the producers of TODAY airs. Throughout the live segment, the presenters will explicitly make some reference to the show being live on the west coast from time to time until the tape-delayed segments resume. , Pacific Time, half-hour or the bloc before the first set of advertisements. When breaking news stories warrant, Today will produce a West Coast edition by broadcasting parts of the show live for viewers there.
Following an internal investigation into the production of the segment (NBC News fired two employees who were involved in the piece), including a producer based at the division’s Miami bureau, in April 2012. In 1989, Bryant Gumbel wrote a memo to the program’s then-executive producer Marty Ryan, which was critical of other Today personalities, and was leaked to the press. On September 26, 2024, Kotb announced her decision to step down as co-anchor of Today and co-host of the fourth hour in early 2025, but would remain at NBC in a role that was unspecified.
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- While the coverage of the ceremonies was not seen on the NBC network feed in most of the country, the network’s New York City flagship owned-and-operated station WNBC interrupted the Today broadcast to run locally produced special coverage of the entire ceremony.
- The U.S. moved to tighten the duration of visas for foreign students, cultural exchange visitors and Chinese journalists.
- In 1989 (a memo written by Bryant Gumbel to Marty Ryan), the program’s then-executive producer, criticized other personalities from Today and subsequently leaked to the media.
- Kotb revealed on September 26 — 2024, her choice to resign as co-anchor of Today and co-host of the fourth hour in early 2025, although she will maintain an unspecified role at NBC.
The remaining three feeds are frequently updated with minor fixes and repairs (and often), correspondents will tape updates that are then edited into the delayed feeds. Partly to accommodate host Dave Garroway’s declining health, the program ceased live broadcasts in September 1959, opting instead to broadcast an edition taped the previous afternoon punctuated with live newscasts each half-hour. Since 1958 (Today has only broadcast live on the Eastern Time Zone), and has been on broadcast delay for the five other U.S. time zones (Central, Mountain Time Zone, Pacific Time Zone, Alaska Time Zone and Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone). In other countries (the format was copied – most notably in the United Kingdom with the BBC’s BBC Breakfast and ITV’s Good Morning Britain), and in Canada with Your Morning on CTV Television Network.
In the summer of 1958, television manufacturer Philco complained to NBC that staging Today in a studio explicitly called the RCA Exhibition Hall was unfair (RCA owned NBC at the time). In some instances (when an NBC News Special Report of breaking news or a live event occurs during the Today show time slot in the eastern time zone), the show’s anchors will assume hosting responsibilities and the show will go live across all time zones until such time when the Special Report segment finishes. The program blended national news headlines — interviews with newsmakers, lifestyle features, other light news and gimmicks (including the presence of the chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs who served as the show’s mascot during the early years), and local news updates from the network’s stations. The show’s first broadcast aired on January 14, 1952, as the brainchild of television executive Sylvester “Pat” Weaver, who was then vice president of NBC. For the week above, the third hour (referred as “Today II” by NBC exclusively for Nielsen ratings counts) drew 2.9 million viewers and the fourth hour , referred in Nielsen ratings as “Today III”,, delivered 1.7 million.
During NBC Olympic broadcasts, the weekday anchors and staff present the majority of the program on both Saturday and Sunday throughout the two weeks to maintain promotional momentum, with limited contributions from the weekend team from New York. The Sunday broadcast was originally 90 minutes in length, until the third half-hour being dropped with the expansion of Meet the Press to an hour-long broadcast in 1992; it now airs for one hour, while the Saturday broadcast airs for 90 minutes. It was also reported that (prior to the incident), Kelly and NBC had been discussing canceling the program so she could focus more on serving as a correspondent, but that the comments may have an impact on her future at the network.
Weekend editions of Today include Saturday Today anchored by Laura Jarrett alongside co-hosts Joe Fryer (features anchor) and Angie Lassman (weather anchor), and Sunday Today anchored solely by Willie Geist. The new set retains the 360 home base used in the previous design. In September 2015 Today updated the set once again, the update included new floors, a new couch, and a new anchor desk. The logo-to-peacock animation was moved from the left corner to the bottom right side corner of the screen. Six screens that also connect to one 6′ x 16′ screen were added in the fashion/special topic area.
Eastern – corresponding with the start time of Today in the Pacific Time Zone – to allow for adjustment in airtimes for other time zones and for certain NBC stations without a local morning newscast to air Early Today in lieu of one. NBC canceled the program after a year, and replaced it with NBC News at Sunrise, originally anchored by Connie Chung. The early morning news program Early Today was conceived as a lead-in for Today (featuring the same anchors as the main program at the time), Bryant Gumbel and Jane Pauley. During some Olympic broadcasts, weekend editions are preempted altogether to show live sports.
Today with Kathie Lee and Hoda was the fourth-hour segment of Today hosted by Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, which aired from April 7, 2008, to April 5, 2019. Kelly never again appeared on NBC and departed the network three months later. Weekend co-anchor Sheinelle Jones and weekend meteorologist Dylan Dreyer filled in as co-hosts alongside Roker until a new morning lineup began in the fall. On August 22, 2016, both Morales and Geist left Today’s Take and former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush officially joined the set.
We want to assure you that the entire Today family will keep delivering important and informative stories, just as we have always done. The new third hour was launched on October 29, 2018, with Hoda Kotb, Craig Melvin, and Al Roker anchoring the first twenty minutes from Studio 1A, covering the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, while Savannah Guthrie anchored live from Pittsburgh. Following the cancellation of Megyn Kelly Today on October 26, 2018, NBC announced that the anchors of Today would take over the hosting of the third hour.