NBC News on Wednesday tapped Tom Llamas to take over the “Nightly News” anchor chair from Lester Holt when he steps down this summer.
Llamas, a senior national correspondent and anchor of “Top Story with Tom Llamas,” had been rumored as Holt’s replacement, who announced his departure last week.
“I look forward to working with the world class journalists at ‘Nightly News’ and ‘Top Story’ to bring viewers the most important stories every night,” Llamas said in a statement.
Holt had led the second-place evening news program for a decade.
“Lester Holt is a great man and one of the most trusted broadcasters of our time,” the 45-year-old Llamas said. “Just like Lester, I promise to be devoted to our viewers and dedicated to the truth.”
Llamas started his career as an intern at a local Telemundo station before launching his career at NBC News where he held several roles. He moved over to ABC where he held the position of chief national affairs correspondent and anchored weekend editions of the network’s “World News Tonight” before returning to NBC in 2021.
“Tom has the winning combination of journalistic excellence, passionate storytelling and unyielding integrity — all characteristics that have long been trademarks of ‘NBC Nightly News,’” NBC News executive vice president of programming Rodriguez said in a statement.
“Additionally, he’s been instrumental in growing NBC News NOW into the leading streaming news network, helping to introduce NBC News to a new generation of viewers,” she added.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
