Early Today
Encyclopedia
Early Today is an American morning news programme airing on the NBC
television network
. The program goes out live at 4:00am Eastern Time Zone
for those few stations which start their local news
at 4:30am, and is transmitted in a continuous half-hour tape delay loop until 10:00am ET, when Today begins in the Pacific Time Zone
. The program usually airs before local morning newscasts as a lead-in, or in the few markets where a local morning news broadcast is not produced, before the start of Today. The show is updated for any breaking news 7:00am Eastern, while stations throughout the network will join Today in all time zones past that time at their local discretion or network orders for live coverage.
. Originally produced through the former Fort Lee, New Jersey
facilities of NBC's financial-news cable network, CNBC
, and focusing on business and financial news (including a modified version of the CNBC Ticker
showing stock prices and weather forecasts), the show switched focus to general news in 2004. As part of this change the show was relocated to the facilities of MSNBC
, another NBC cable network.
's Fred Roggin
or Mario Solis and recorded after that station's 11pm newscast for later airing, is aired unchanged on both programs). Some segments are excluded from First Look, mainly the local weather cut-in (which does not appear on all stations that broadcast the program) and a local event call-out featuring a promotion for a city's NBC affiliate, while a story or two on Early Today may not be seen on First Look.
Some NBC affiliates do not air the entire program, and a purposeful sign-off is made by the show in the 24 minutes in order to allow stations to air an early weather segment or start their morning newscast early, while NBC carries a non-essential human interest or light news story to end the program for those who carry the entire program.
In September 2007, the program, like the rest of MSNBC, moved from its former Secaucus, New Jersey
, headquarters into the new combined home of MSNBC and NBC News
at the GE Building
in Manhattan
. The master control room of MSNBC to CNBC Headquarters at the NBC Universal Network Organization Center in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
.
The anchor background on Early Today is a video screen of a sunrise scene; a skycam
shot of Manhattan
is used for First Look. The name was also used for another early-morning news program produced by NBC News from 1982 to 1983, which featured the cast of NBC's Today at the time -- Jane Pauley
, Bryant Gumbel
, and Willard Scott
. This was replaced in 1983 by NBC News at Sunrise.
The current version of Early Today premiered with current Saturday Today anchor Amy Robach
as anchor. On June 29, 2009 with the launch of MSNBC HD, Early Today is now presented in 16:9 high definition, the first early morning broadcast newscast to air in the format.
The program had aired live at 4:30 a.m. ET until March 1, 2010, when the show was moved to first air at 4:00am ET to allow Eastern Time Zone stations to begin their morning newscasts at 4:30 a.m with an Early Today lead-out; previously without the new schedule in some cases, the NBC All Night repeat of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
would inexplicably lead into local news with five minutes cut off the former program if the default NBC schedule, in addition to one local half-hour program, was followed by an affiliate overnights. There is also a live version of that show for Pacific Time Zone stations to let local affiliates air their newscasts at 4:30 a.m., although the weather segments uses the West Coast region for its viewers. (An example of such is NBC O&O KNTV
, which has aired it's newscasts at 4:30 a.m. since late 2008.)
in Europe and the Middle East. This includes Early Today and several other shows.
act as weather presenters and the latter newscast's anchor also acts as the sports presenter. Presently, Lynn Berry
serves as main anchor of the program with Veronica De La Cruz
anchoring on occasion. NBC
meteorologist Bill Karins
(formerly with NBC Weather Plus
until shortly before it ceased operations in 2008, and worked on Early Today concurrently with his duties on NBC Weather Plus) does the national and regional weather forecast, and Fred Roggin
and Mario Solis of NBC owned-and-operated station
KNBC
in Los Angeles
rotate as sports anchors, taping the segment shortly after KNBC's 11pm broadcast in order to cover all West Coast sports results. The Weather Channel
, which is part-owned by NBC Universal, brands its weather forecasts used on the program.
Meteorologists
Business Anchor
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
. The program goes out live at 4:00am Eastern Time Zone
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
for those few stations which start their local news
Local news
In journalism, local news refers to news coverage of events in a local context which would not normally be of interest to those of other localities, or otherwise be of national or international scope.-Television:...
at 4:30am, and is transmitted in a continuous half-hour tape delay loop until 10:00am ET, when Today begins in the Pacific Time Zone
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
. The program usually airs before local morning newscasts as a lead-in, or in the few markets where a local morning news broadcast is not produced, before the start of Today. The show is updated for any breaking news 7:00am Eastern, while stations throughout the network will join Today in all time zones past that time at their local discretion or network orders for live coverage.
Origins
It premiered in 1999 as the replacement for NBC News at SunriseNBC News at Sunrise
NBC News at Sunrise was an early morning news program produced by NBC News from 1983 to 1999. The program featured the top news headlines of the morning, sports and weather reports, and business segments. Many of the program's anchors also appeared on The Today Show...
. Originally produced through the former Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
facilities of NBC's financial-news cable network, CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
, and focusing on business and financial news (including a modified version of the CNBC Ticker
CNBC Ticker
The CNBC Ticker is a computer simulation of ticker tapes shown as a crawl on the lower part of the TV screen on the business television network CNBC from Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, in the U.S...
showing stock prices and weather forecasts), the show switched focus to general news in 2004. As part of this change the show was relocated to the facilities of MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, another NBC cable network.
Present
MSNBC's First Look, which airs an hour after the 4:00am taping of Early Today at 5:00am, is a redone version of the network newscast with the same anchors, weathercasters, and segments (the sportscast, anchored by either KNBCKNBC
KNBC, channel 4, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KNBC's studios and offices are located within the NBC Studios complex in Burbank, California, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson...
's Fred Roggin
Fred Roggin
Fred Roggin is the sports anchor at KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, California. He was also a sports talk radio host at KMPC in Los Angeles, and until Fall 2007 hosted a morning sports show on KLAC with Los Angeles Times sports columnist T.J. Simers and Simers' daughter, Tracy Simers...
or Mario Solis and recorded after that station's 11pm newscast for later airing, is aired unchanged on both programs). Some segments are excluded from First Look, mainly the local weather cut-in (which does not appear on all stations that broadcast the program) and a local event call-out featuring a promotion for a city's NBC affiliate, while a story or two on Early Today may not be seen on First Look.
Some NBC affiliates do not air the entire program, and a purposeful sign-off is made by the show in the 24 minutes in order to allow stations to air an early weather segment or start their morning newscast early, while NBC carries a non-essential human interest or light news story to end the program for those who carry the entire program.
In September 2007, the program, like the rest of MSNBC, moved from its former Secaucus, New Jersey
Secaucus, New Jersey
Secaucus is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 16,264. Located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, it is the most suburban of the county's municipalities, though large parts of the town are dedicated to light manufacturing, retail, and...
, headquarters into the new combined home of MSNBC and NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
at the GE Building
GE Building
The GE Building is an Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the midtown Manhattan section of New York City. Known as the RCA Building until 1988, it is most famous for housing the headquarters of the television network NBC...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. The master control room of MSNBC to CNBC Headquarters at the NBC Universal Network Organization Center in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Englewood Cliffs is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 5,281. The borough houses the world headquarters of CNBC and the American headquarters of Unilever, and is home to both Ferrari and Maserati North America.Englewood Cliffs...
.
The anchor background on Early Today is a video screen of a sunrise scene; a skycam
Skycam
Skycam is the trademarked brandname of a patented, computer-controlled, stabilized, cable-suspended camera system. The system, similar to Steadicam, but maneuvered through three dimensions in the open space over a playing area of a stadium or arena by computer-controlled cable-drive system, is...
shot of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
is used for First Look. The name was also used for another early-morning news program produced by NBC News from 1982 to 1983, which featured the cast of NBC's Today at the time -- Jane Pauley
Jane Pauley
Margaret Jane Pauley is an American television journalist, and has been involved in news reporting since 1975...
, Bryant Gumbel
Bryant Gumbel
Bryant Charles Gumbel is an American television journalist and sportscaster. He is best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's The Today Show. He is the younger brother of sportscaster Greg Gumbel.-Early life:...
, and Willard Scott
Willard Scott
Willard Herman Scott, Jr. is an American media personality and author best known for his television work on NBC's The Today Show and as the creator of the Ronald McDonald character.-Early years:...
. This was replaced in 1983 by NBC News at Sunrise.
The current version of Early Today premiered with current Saturday Today anchor Amy Robach
Amy Robach
Amy Joanne Robach is a national correspondent for NBC's Today, as well as the co-anchor of their Saturday edition.-Biography:...
as anchor. On June 29, 2009 with the launch of MSNBC HD, Early Today is now presented in 16:9 high definition, the first early morning broadcast newscast to air in the format.
The program had aired live at 4:30 a.m. ET until March 1, 2010, when the show was moved to first air at 4:00am ET to allow Eastern Time Zone stations to begin their morning newscasts at 4:30 a.m with an Early Today lead-out; previously without the new schedule in some cases, the NBC All Night repeat of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman....
would inexplicably lead into local news with five minutes cut off the former program if the default NBC schedule, in addition to one local half-hour program, was followed by an affiliate overnights. There is also a live version of that show for Pacific Time Zone stations to let local affiliates air their newscasts at 4:30 a.m., although the weather segments uses the West Coast region for its viewers. (An example of such is NBC O&O KNTV
KNTV
KNTV, channel 11, is the NBC owned-and-operated television station in the Bay Area market. It is licensed to San Jose, with its transmitter located on San Bruno Mountain, just south of San Francisco. It shares facilities in San Jose with NBC Universal sister station KSTS and CNBC's Silicon...
, which has aired it's newscasts at 4:30 a.m. since late 2008.)
International broadcasts
MSNBC and NBC News programming is shown for several hours a day on the 24-hour news network Orbit NewsOrbit News
OSN News is a 24 hour satellite and cable channel offering exclusively American news programming from ABC, NBC, PBS, and MSNBC to U.S. expats and other viewers abroad, primarily geared towards an audience in the Arab countries...
in Europe and the Middle East. This includes Early Today and several other shows.
On-air staff
Early Today is the only American early morning network newscast with both a meteorologist and a sports anchor on staff, anchors of ABC's America This Morning and the CBS Morning NewsCBS Morning News
For CBS's main morning news program, formerly known as CBS Morning News, see The Early Show.CBS Morning News is the half-hour daily television broadcast from CBS News that airs following Up to the Minute and features late-breaking news stories, weather forecasts, and sports scores...
act as weather presenters and the latter newscast's anchor also acts as the sports presenter. Presently, Lynn Berry
Lynn Berry (reporter)
Lynn Marie Berry serves and an anchor/correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC. Berry can be seen weekday mornings anchoring Early Today on NBC, First Look on MSNBC and newsbreaks on Wake Up With Al on The Weather Channel...
serves as main anchor of the program with Veronica De La Cruz
Veronica De La Cruz
Veronica De La Cruz is a Filipino American television anchor formerly with CNN. In July 2010, she appeared as a late night anchor on MSNBC. At the current time, she appears on both NBC and MSNBC, primarily anchoring NBC's Early Today show and MSNBC's First Look...
anchoring on occasion. NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
meteorologist Bill Karins
Bill Karins
Bill Karins is a NBC meteorologist. He reports weekdays for NBC's Early Today, MSNBC's First Look, Morning Joe, Jansing and Company and CNBC. Prior to being named NBC Meteorologist Karins was one of the original meteorologists for the now shuttered NBC Weather Plus. He is MSNBC and NBC News Chief...
(formerly with NBC Weather Plus
NBC Weather Plus
NBC Weather Plus was a 24-hour, commercially sponsored, weather-oriented broadcast/cable television network jointly owned by NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC network. It debuted on November 15, 2004 and shut down on December 31, 2008...
until shortly before it ceased operations in 2008, and worked on Early Today concurrently with his duties on NBC Weather Plus) does the national and regional weather forecast, and Fred Roggin
Fred Roggin
Fred Roggin is the sports anchor at KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, California. He was also a sports talk radio host at KMPC in Los Angeles, and until Fall 2007 hosted a morning sports show on KLAC with Los Angeles Times sports columnist T.J. Simers and Simers' daughter, Tracy Simers...
and Mario Solis of NBC owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
KNBC
KNBC
KNBC, channel 4, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KNBC's studios and offices are located within the NBC Studios complex in Burbank, California, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
rotate as sports anchors, taping the segment shortly after KNBC's 11pm broadcast in order to cover all West Coast sports results. The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel is a US cable and satellite television network since May 2, 1982, that broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news, along with entertainment programming related to weather 24 hours a day...
, which is part-owned by NBC Universal, brands its weather forecasts used on the program.
Former staff
Anchors- Nanette HansenNanette HansenNanette Hansen was a journalist with CBS, NBC, and CNBC. She co-hosted NBC's Early Today program from 1999 to 2004 with meteorologist Joe Witte. After leaving NBC, Hanson shifted careers to real estate, first with Corcoran Group Real Estate and currently with Sotheby's International Realty's East...
(1999–2004) - Natalie MoralesNatalie MoralesNatalie Leticia Morales is the news anchor for NBC's Today.-Career:Morales was an anchor and correspondent for MSNBC from 2002 to 2006...
(2004; now with Today) - Amy RobachAmy RobachAmy Joanne Robach is a national correspondent for NBC's Today, as well as the co-anchor of their Saturday edition.-Biography:...
(2004; now with Weekend TodayWeekend TodayWeekend Today is the unofficial title of the weekend editions of Today, an American morning news and talk show which airs daily on NBC.-History:...
) - Contessa BrewerContessa BrewerContessa Brewer is an American host for the MSNBC weekend program Caught on Camera.-Biography:Brewer was born in in Parsonsfield, Maine, and graduated from Sacopee Valley High School in Hiram, Maine in 1992. She graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public...
(2004–2005; now with MSNBCMSNBCMSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
's MSNBC LiveMSNBC Livemsnbc Live is an American news / talk television program on MSNBC hosted by Thomas Roberts.Focusing on live news coverage, the program also consists of guest analysis and interviews around the stories of the day, in addition to feature-like stories, in-depth special reports, and The Weather Channel...
) - Kristine JohnsonKristine JohnsonKristine Johnson is a Filipino American co-anchor at WCBS-TV in New York City, New York, on the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts with Maurice DuBois....
(2005-October 20, 2006; currently main anchor at WCBS-TVWCBS-TVWCBS-TV, channel 2, is the flagship station of the CBS television network, located in New York City. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building, both in Midtown Manhattan....
) - Bill FitzgeraldBill FitzgeraldBill Fitzgerald is a television news anchor and reporter. He anchors evening newscasts for WTVR in Richmond, VA and is a former MSNBC overnight anchor. He was also the news anchor for WNCN with co-anchor Melanie Sanders and meteorologist Wes Hohenstein weeknights at 6, 7 and 11 pm...
(2006–2007) - Milissa RehbergerMilissa RehbergerMilissa Rehberger joined the 24-hour cable news television channel MSNBC in December 2003 as a freelance anchor and reporter. In July 2004 she was named anchor of its primetime news updates. Most recently Rehberger spent some time anchoring NBC's Early Today and MSNBC's First Look. Currently,...
(various quarters) - Dan KloefflerDan KloefflerDan Kloeffler is an American television journalist. He has worked as an anchor on WSTM-TV, MSNBC, and, currently, ABC News.-Early life:Kloeffler graduated from Algonac High School in Algonac, Michigan, in 1994...
(2007–2009) - Christina BrownChristina BrownChristina Brown is an Emmy award winning journalist, an anchor & correspondent for MSNBC and NBC News. She began working for MSNBC in June 2007 as anchor of overnight newsbreaks and the early morning programs Early Today and First Look, after five years with KTNV-TV in Las Vegas, Nevada and two...
(2007–2010)
Meteorologists
- Joe WitteJoe WitteJoe Witte is the morning and midday weathercaster for TBD TV, a local cable news network owned by Albritton Communication headquartered in Rosslyn, VA and serving the Washington, D.C area. He previously worked at Washington's ABC affiliate, WJLA, which is also owned by Albritton and headquartered...
(1999–2003; now at TBD TV in Washington, DC) - John ElliottJohn ElliottJohn Elliott may refer to:*John Elliott , English architect*John Elliott, M.D. , adherent of James II*John Elliott , Scottish physician* John Elliott , English artist...
(2004; now at WCBSWCBS-TVWCBS-TV, channel 2, is the flagship station of the CBS television network, located in New York City. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building, both in Midtown Manhattan....
in New York) - Sean McLaughlin (2004–2005; now at KPHO in Phoenix)
- Rosey EdehRosey EdehRosey Edeh is a Canadian television personality, currently a correspondent for the entertainment newsmagazine series ET Canada.Edeh was born in London, England...
(2004–2005; now reporter for ET Canada) - Elise FinchElise FinchElise Finch is an American news journalist and currently a weekend weather anchor for WCBS-TV in New York City. She was a weathercaster at NBC's national forecasting service 'NBC Weather Plus' from December 2004 to December 2006 and also worked for MSNBC. Before that she was at KAAL in Austin,...
(2006; now at WCBS in New York) - Byron MirandaByron MirandaByron Miranda is an American television journalist. The three-time Regional Emmy Award-winner currently appears as a meteorologist on KNBC in Los Angeles, California.- Personal background :...
(2007) - Todd SantosTodd SantosTodd Santos is an American on-camera meteorologist for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, Georgia.-Early life & Career:Todd was born and raised in Bristol, Rhode Island. In 2003, he began his career at CBS affiliate WLTX in Columbia, South Carolina...
(2008; now with The Weather Channel)
Business Anchor
- Louisa Bojesen (1999–2008)
External links
- Early Today, Official information website