NBC Names Tom Llamas as Anchor of Nightly News

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Tom Llamas will replace Lester Holt as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, joining a short list of renowned broadcasters who have helmed the iconic show since it debuted in 1970.

Llamas has long been the leading candidate to replace Holt. He currently serves as senior national correspondent and anchor of a nightly program on NBC News NOW, the network’s streaming service. Llamas will take over Nightly News in the summer, and will continue to host the streaming program, Top Story.

Nightly News, NBC’s flagship evening newscast, remains a ratings powerhouse. The show averaged more than 6 million viewers last season — a massive number, though not enough to land first in the evening news race. The crown went, as it has for the last few years, to David Muir and ABC’s World News Tonight.

Holt, who helmed Nightly News for the last decade, announced he was stepping down this week. He will remain at NBC and expand his duties as anchor of Dateline.

In 2015 he took over from Brian Williams, who vacated the anchor chair amid scandal after he admitted to fabricating details of an anecdote he frequently told about drawing fire while in a helicopter during a reporting trip in Iraq.

One sources who spoke with Mediaite said there is wariness inside NBC about the future of its marquee program. The ratings may still be strong, but the fragmentation of media and the breakdown of the TV news business model means the industry is more precarious than ever before.

In a note to staff that was obtained by Mediaite, NBC News executive vice president of programming Janelle Rodriguez said Llamas’s “seasoned background—both in the field and at the desk—uniquely positions him to carry forward the legacy of Nightly News.”