Craig Melvin To Replace Hoda Kotb On NBC’s ‘Today’

by · Forbes
NEW YORK: Al Roker, Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, and Craig Melvin host the 86th Annual Rockefeller ... [+] Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at Rockefeller Center on November 28, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/WireImage)WireImage

Craig Melvin has been tapped as the replacement for Hoda Kotb on NBC’s veteran Today show beginning on January 13, 2025 (following Hoda's last day on Friday, January 10).

"We are so excited about the news in our Today family, and that is the person sitting right next to me," said Savannah Guthrie on-air about Melvin. "Our dear friend, and talented, wonderful, hard-working Craig Melvin is the new anchor of the Today show."

"I'm beyond excited and grateful," Melvin said. "I want to thank NBC and the folks here who deemed me worthy. I have enjoyed just a lifetime of blessings, and this is the latest in a long line of blessings."

TODAY — Pictured: Sheinelle Jones, Craig Melvin and Dylan Dreyer on Friday, December 29, 2017 — ... [+] (Photo by: Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Melvin will continue to co-anchor 3rd Hour of Today with Al Roker, Dylan Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones. The fourth hour, Today with Hoda & Jenna, will be renamed Today with Jenna & Friends, with a rotating series of co-hosts until a permanent successor is named to join Jenna Bush Hager.

Hoda Kotb, who joined NBC News in 1998 and was a mainstay on Today for the past 16 years, announced in late September she would be exiting, describing the decision as the "hardest thing in the world."

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Melvin, 45, first joined NBC affiliate WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina as a high school student, working as an "Our Generation Reporter" from 1995 to 1997. After college, he returned to the station in July 2001 as a news photographer and producer, before becoming a reporter for the station's morning news team. He was later promoted to news anchor for the weekend morning newscast and the weekend evening newscasts before heading the weekday newscasts.

In 2008, Melvin left WIS-TV to join NBC affiliate WRC-TV, where he anchored the weekend evening newscasts. In 2011, he departed WRC-TV for MSNBC to become a daytime anchor, while also contributing to NBC News as a reporter. Then, in 2016, he was named anchor of MSNBC Live, which became MSMNC Reports. In 2022, Melvin announced he would be leaving to focus on Today.