Longtime “NBC Nightly News” host Lester Holt revealed why he’s stepping away from the anchor desk — however remaining on the Peacock Community, saying he “still has gas in the tank.”
In a sitdown with Selection, the 66-year-old newsman mirrored on his 22-year profession on the community, his fast-approaching exit from the chair as soon as occupied by Tom Brokaw on the finish of the month and his want to return to his reporting roots at NBC’s “Dateline.”
“It wasn’t like one moment of epiphany,” Holt mentioned of his resolution to exit the anchor chair after 10 years. “I never saw myself doing this job forever.”
Holt mentioned he made up his thoughts about his future after a protracted dialog along with his spouse.
“I decided that I needed to come off the ‘Nightly’ gig, but I still had gas in the tank,” he mentioned
Holt’s departure from night information didn’t come as a shock to media insiders. The hiring of Tom Llamas, a well-liked ABC Information anchor, in 2021 had sparked a lot hypothesis about succession plans.
Llamas, 45, will takeover for Holt on June 2.
Viewers can nonetheless catch Holt on the newsmagazine program “Dateline,” the place the veteran journalist has had a presence over the previous 15 years.
The project to maneuver to the present full time, Holt mentioned, supplies him extra freedom than his anchoring gig.
“We’re still doing journalism, but these are hour and two-hour shows we’re doing,’” he mentioned. “Some of the stories you’ll see me doing will be months in the making.”
Holt mentioned he’s wanting ahead to flex “some different news muscles” with the fulltime reporting place.
“I once spent two nights in prison for a ‘Dateline’ (episode) and I’ve done heartbreaking stories on the asthma crisis and the economy,” he mentioned. “I’ve done a lot of things that are outside of what many would think is a traditional ‘Dateline,’ but I want to do more of those, and I want to be able to tell a producer, ‘Yes, I’ll be there for that interview next week,’ because I won’t be jumping after whatever is happening for ‘Nightly.’”
NBC execs are hoping that Holt may give “Dateline” a jolt in its next-and-neck battle with rival ABC newsmagazine “20/20.”
Within the first quarter, “Dateline” reeled in 4 million whole viewers, whereas 20/20 garnered 3.97 million.
Equally, they’re hoping the altering of the guard on the night information would possibly assist the second-place “Nightly News” catch ABC’s “World News with David Muir.”
“World News” has a agency lead, reeling in 8.1 million whole viewers within the first quarter of this yr, in comparison with 6.6 million for “Nightly News.”
“CBS Evening News,” which shook up its anchor lineup earlier this yr, ditching Norah O’Donnell for John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, averaged 4.6 million viewers.
Holt, who started his profession in 1981 at CBS, joined NBC Information in 2003 the place he held varied anchoring and reporting roles.
He was named “Nightly News” anchor in 2015, following the demotion of Brian Williams.
Reflecting on how “Nightly” retains and grows viewership, Holt mentioned: “Our biggest challenge, really, is being where viewers are going to be — not where they are today — where they’re going to be in two weeks, in a month from now. And I think that’s what all of us in this industry right now are focused on. We firmly believe there’s always going to be an audience for a fact-based, tell-it-like-it-is, smart-analysis kind of a broadcast.”
“Nightly” will proceed, and so will Holt.
“People say it’s been a great run,” he concluded. “It’s like, well, I’m still running.”
