NBC Nightly News
NBC Nightly News (titled as NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network in the United States. First aired on August 3, 1970, the program is currently the second most watched network newscast in the United States, behind ABC's World News Tonight.[1][2] NBC Nightly News is produced from Studio 1A at NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City. Selected Los Angeles–based editions broadcast from The Brokaw News Center in Universal City, California, or when broadcasting from Washington, D.C., either from the NBC News bureau based at WRC-TV in the Tenleytown neighborhood, or NBC's secondary studio overlooking Capitol Hill.
NBC Nightly News
- Weekdays:
- NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (2015–present)
Christian Alicea
Susan King
Weekdays:
Lester Holt
Saturdays
Jose Diaz-Balart
Sundays
Hallie Jackson
Fred Weinberg Productions (1977)
Henry Mancini (1977–1982)
Joseph Paul Sicurella,
Tony Smythe &
Bob Christianson (1982–1985)
John Williams (1985–present)
"The Mission" (1985–present)
(for past themes, see section)
Same as opening
United States
English
50
Meghan Rafferty
30 minutes
August 3, 1970 –
present
Since 2015, the broadcast has been anchored by Lester Holt on weeknights, José Díaz-Balart on Saturday[3] and Hallie Jackson on Sunday. Previous anchors have included John Chancellor, David Brinkley, Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams and Kate Snow.
The program is broadcast live over most NBC stations from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time seven days a week; the "Western Edition" of the program occasionally features breaking news and/or updated information on news stories covered during the original telecast for Pacific Time Zone viewers, and some stations in that time zone carry it live at 3:30 p.m. PT to lead into their late afternoon local news blocks. Its current theme music, "The Mission" (which debuted in 1985) was composed by John Williams.
Weekend editions[edit]
NBC first offered a Saturday evening newscast in 1961, with Sander Vanocur anchoring the NBC Saturday Night Report. Four years later, NBC correspondents Ray Scherer and Robert MacNeil were partnered at the anchor desk on The Scherer-MacNeil Report on Saturdays, continuing until 1967. At that time, the network replaced it with a second weekend airing of The Frank McGee Report, which had been airing on Sundays for several years by that point.[27] The Saturday edition of the Report ran for about a year and a half.
On January 4, 1969, the Huntley-Brinkley Report was expanded to Saturday evenings, with the main anchors working solo on alternating weeks. When lower-than-expected ratings occurred, the network pulled the pair off Saturdays and assigned others such as McGee and Vanocur to anchor the broadcast. On August 2, 1970, two days after the weekday Huntley-Brinkley broadcast ended, the network expanded its evening newscast to Sundays, which also replaced the Sunday broadcast of The Frank McGee Report. For the first year after the Sunday broadcast began, Chancellor, Brinkley and McGee rotated on the program as they did on weeknights; there were no separate weekend anchors. The Saturday and Sunday broadcasts were respectively titled NBC Saturday Night News and NBC Sunday Night News until sometime in the 1970s, when they adopted the NBC Nightly News name.
When Chancellor became sole anchor of the weeknight editions in August 1971, separate anchors were named for the weekend editions.
The weekend editions may occasionally be abbreviated or preempted due to NBC Sports telecasts that overrun into the program's time slot. During the NFL season, the Sunday editions air live in every time zone at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, immediately prior to Football Night in America and Sunday Night Football.
Kids edition[edit]
In April 2020, NBC News began producing a version of NBC Nightly News targeted at children ages 6 to 16, featuring stories aimed at children. This edition is hosted by Lester Holt and new episodes premiere every Thursday on NBC News' YouTube channel.[28] Beginning on October 31, 2020, occasional editions of NBC Nightly News: Kids Edition have aired on Saturdays on NBC.[29]
Nightly News anchors[edit]
Weekdays[edit]
The following are people who have been the principal news anchors for the NBC television network's flagship weekday evening-news program, titled since 1970 as NBC Nightly News, as well as its predecessor programs.
Announcer[edit]
Bill Hanrahan handled the announcing duties for the newscast until his retirement in 1983, as he had done for the predecessor Huntley-Brinkley Report. The next announcer for the program was long-time NBC staff announcer Howard Reig. He retired to Florida in 2005, but a recording he had made before his retirement was used on the program until December 14, 2007. When the show was broadcast on remote or a new substitute anchor was used, Reig recorded a new introduction in a Miami studio. Since Holt took over as anchor, the weekend editions have been voiced by Bill Wolff, who had also worked occasionally on special weekday editions when Reig was unavailable. On December 17, 2007, the weeknight broadcast introduced an opening by Academy Award winning actor/producer Michael Douglas[31] until it was discontinued on June 18, 2015, and was replaced by Wolff.
From late 2007 through 2012, the intro commenced with a timeline showing the different NBC News anchors and logos whilst the show's theme song plays followed by showing the NBC News' filming station in New York (It does not appear when telecasts are filmed in other areas like Washington).
From 2012 through 2016, the intro was different pictures of the earth which formed into the NBC News' filming station in New York.
Video-on-demand[edit]
NBC Nightly News is also available worldwide as an audio podcast,[36] and can be streamed on demand from the NBC News website[37] the night of its original broadcast after 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Beginning with the March 27, 2018, broadcast, Nightly News broadcasts have also started appearing on NBC News's YouTube channel. On January 25, 2015, NBC began indicating that the video podcast of the program would be discontinued[38] and refers users to the news division's website or mobile apps to view editions of Nightly News on mobile devices, although such apps are not compatible with devices that feature podcast support such as early generation Apple TV or Roku devices (current-gen devices offer access to an NBC News app with newscast replays). The video podcast was discontinued on February 14, 2015.
