‘Today’ Show Announces Replacement For Outgoing Host Hoda Kotb

A replacement for Hoda Kotb, the longtime co-host for NBC’s “Today” morning show, plans to fill in immediately after Kotb’s last appearance next year.

On Thursday it was announced on the show that Craig Melvin will be filling Kotb’s shoes beginning in January 2025, presenting the 52-year-old Austrian-born American a sizable opportunity to remake morning news coverage in his image. Co-host Savannah Guthrie broke the news just as Kotb, 60, revealed her last day on the air will be Friday, January 10th, according to the Daily Mail.”I just want to say that we will spend a week celebrating you. As you mentioned, we have a lot to celebrate,” Savannah told Hoda live on air.

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“Though you are irreplaceable, we are so excited about the news in our Today family and that is the person sitting right next to me, our dear friend and talented, wonderful, hard-working, most worthy of this, Craig Melvin is the new anchor of the Today show,” she continued. “And let me just say that the staff, the larger staff found out this morning, and people broke into applause. This is the one of the most popular decisions NBC news has ever made.”

An emotional Melvin chimed in. “I am beyond excited and grateful, and I just, you know, I’ve had a lot of conversations yesterday with a lot of people who mean a lot to me, and I want to obviously thank NBC and the folks here who have deemed me worthy. But I have to start by thanking the man upstairs. Thanking my lord above and his son Jesus, and I’ve enjoyed just a lifetime of blessings, and this is the latest in a long line of blessings. And I talked to mom and dad yesterday. I’m thankful that they’re still young enough and healthy enough to be able to see this and enjoy the fruits of their labor, and you all know my back story. My mother’s mother was an elementary school custodian, and my father’s mother had to take care of five kids, so she ran numbers and ran liquor for a long time and ended up in prison. My dad was born in prison, that didn’t define him, he overcame addictions in his life, and he’s become one of my favorite human beings.”

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The incoming co-host talked about how much his family, and mother in particular, had to sacrifice to get him to where he is today. “My mom, at one point picks up a second job to sacrifice and provide for our family, and so I’m grateful to them. And my wife, Lindsay, who has endured 13 years of me, and God bless her. And even before that, she was along for the beginning of this professional journey. I talked to her this morning, she’s traveling, and we had a nice moment and I’m just so thankful for her and dealing with years of… you know what this job is?”

“I mean it’s a lot of long days and short nights, and she’s been there for me from the beginning. And my kids, who make me proud every day. I love them and this place. People see us on TV every morning, what they don’t see are the folks behind these cameras and downstairs, we have the best team in television news and I’m honored to be a part of that,” Melvin recalled.

Kotb was sold on Melvin to be her replacement from the beginning, she said. “Craig, you are made for this job. You were literally made for this job. You are that kind of good. You have all the things that this job needs. You are the right person for it.” He replied, “It means a lot to hear this from you. You’ve been the heart of this place for a long time [and] you helped save this show.”

Fellow co-host Al Roker, 70, offered praise for Melvin as well. “Well, you know, I always go back… and, Hoda, you were there for this, we were having lunch with Craig during the Winter Olympics in South Korea and Craig had some doubts and he was thinking and we both said, ‘this is it, you’re here, you’ve got it all,'” the longtime fixture said from his remote broadcast. “And I knew that this day would come. I’ve watched you grow. I’ve seen you as a journalist, but, more importantly, I’ve seen you as a dad, as a son, all the things that make you who you are. I am so proud and so happy for you right now. Because you are so worthy of this. And I’m just… I almost don’t have the words.”

A tearful Melvin almost fell to a loss for words. “I love you, I love you, thank you,” he sobbed. “I want people to know, I didn’t have sisters, but you are the sisters that I never knew that I needed and I mean that.”

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