When Tom Llamas finishes his first night as permanent anchor of NBC Nightly News on Monday, he’ll go right on into his next assignment, Top Story, the nightly NBC News Now streaming newscast he’s anchored for nearly four years.
The rehearsals have included this key switch-off, as the show will move from one production team to the next. “Monday is the real test,” Llamas said. “It will be trial by fire. It’s never been done like that in this capacity but we have the best at 30 Rock and I know we are going to get there.”
Llamas’ dual roles speak to where things are for the face of broadcast news divisions, as networks seek to capture younger viewers who never picked up linear television habits. Top Story, he noted, has captured new news viewers on platforms like Roku and YouTube.
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Llamas, 45, is succeeding Lester Holt, who will remain at the network with a full-time role on Dateline. Llamas will be the youngest of all of the broadcast evening news anchors.
While broadcast network news audiences aren’t what they were a generation ago, they still pull in significant core viewership. The evening news landscape remains highly competitive, as networks trumpet any spike in viewership or indication of movement.
ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir remains the leader, landing at times as the most watched show of the week in all of broadcast television. In the first quarter, it averaged 8.13 million viewers, compared to 6.6 million for Nightly News and 4.59 million for CBS Evening News. In the 25-54 demo, World News Tonight averaged 1.16 million viewers, compared to 983,000 for Nightly News and 657,000 for Evening New
Llamas, a native of Miami, is the son of Cuban refugees and recalls getting interested in journalism through his parents’ avid interest and conversations about current events, as they read the Miami Herald cover to cover, and watched the news in English and Spanish. On career day in a high school writing class, a local news anchor and alumnus, Louis Aguirre, visited and encouraged Llamas to look into journalism and TV news. When he was 15, Llamas got an internship at Telemundo, “and my summers were spent going to crime scenes and interviewing local officials, and I got bit by the bug there,” he said.
Llamas became a production assistant at NBC News overnight in 2000, and worked his way up through multiple roles including at MSNBC, where his roles included associate producer guest booker and later as a campaign embed. He moved to WTVJ in South Florida in 2005, then to WNBC in New York in 2008, and became an anchor there three years later. He joined ABC News as correspondent in 2014, later taking on the title of chief national affairs correspondent and as weekend anchor for World News Tonight. He returned to NBC News in 2021.
Even with an experienced new anchor, any transition is a bit of a risk for a broadcast network, and dramatic changes to format can struggle. CBS Evening News switched up its anchors earlier this year in a switch that leaned in to 60 Minutes style correspondent storytelling. But the newscast has been down year-to-year.
In promos, NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas is drawing on consistency and the network legacy, with shots of John Chancellor, Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams and Holt before introducing Llamas and the voice-over saying” “As the world changes, we look for what endures. We look for a constant, and from one era to the next, trust is the anchor.”
Among other things, Nightly News will retain a franchise started under Holt, Good News Tonight.
Still, Llamas said there will be some new elements to the broadcast. He’s planning a new franchise, called “The Cost of Denial,” looking at the insurance industry and the troubles consumers are having with rising costs and lost coverage.
“We’ve already launched some stories and we’ve already gotten some results,” Llamas said. “And I want to go back to that, because I believe if you look at the Nightly News, you want to inform people in the first block. You want to empower people in the second block, with investigations, with stories that matter and getting results for viewers. And then you want to inspire people at the end.”
Llamas, who also will have the title of managing editor, spoke with Deadline last week about his pending debut.
DEADLINE: You will be anchoring Nightly News and then right into Top Story. Why do you think that was important?
TOM LLAMAS: I sort of believe in a family-style newsroom, and by that, I mean that we share everything. And so by having the Top Story team now with the Nightly News team, when stories break that either show sees, we’re going to know about it. We’re going to be aware of it. And any changes within the day, we’re all on the same page. And so a story that might develop on Top Story that’s really good, and maybe it is good for Nightly News, we can move it into Nightly News, and vice versa. And so that allows us that freedom. Honestly, I believe that to stay relevant and to keep growing in this business, you have to be everywhere. And the viewer is everywhere. We have to be on television, because that’s what we know how to do, and that’s where we have a giant audience that still believes us, that still loves us, and I think we’ll still grow. And then you have to go to streaming which is this new frontier. And because of the great leadership from NBC News and people who had a real vision, people like Cesar [Conde] and Janelle [Rodriguez], who’s been running News Now, we’ve set a beachhead early on in the streaming world. And I think NBC News Now is as good as anybody that’s out there when it comes to delivering news. And so I didn’t want to step away from something like that.
DEADLINE: A blunt question: How do you beat David Muir?
LLAMAS: I can’t wake up at night thinking about that question, but what I can control is what we put on Nightly News, and making Nightly News the best show possible. I think Lester has built a beautiful show. That audience has grown to trust and love Lester, and it’s an honor for me to take over for him. And then little by little, I’ll put my stamp on the show. But I think I have to focus on the journalism. I have some new ideas that I hope to bring to Nightly News that I think the audiences will love, and I think we’re gonna run our own race, and I think that’s how you get to number one. I have a clear vision on how to get there, and I think there’s things that we can do that we’re already doing and just doubling down on, and just working really hard at it, but I believe it can be done, and I know it can be done, and it’s something that we’re going to aim for. … What’s going to separate us is we’re going to have a show that is both interesting but impactful.
DEADLINE: Broadcast news audiences are still significant, but lots has been written about they don’t have the same impact as a generation ago. What do you see as key to bringing in the next generations of viewers?
LLAMAS: I’ll take a little issue with your question, and here’s why. Have the audience sizes changed? Sure, but we’ve gone from a time when there were three channels to 20 channels to 50 channels, to now, arguably an infinite number of channels and streaming and content and YouTube. But I will say this, when a wildfire explodes in L.A., or a war breaks out, or there is a natural disaster somewhere else, or a new president is elected, you can go and try to do a podcast from there, but when you really need answers and you really want to understand what’s going on, you got to have a team in place that been doing this for years that knows how to do it. That’s what NBC News is doing, and that’s why the network news at night still matters. … So I still think the impact is the same. Are people going to other places? They are, but it’s why we’re doing Top Story. It’s why we’ve launched podcasts. And it’s why we’ve tripled down on our news site … I know these are tough times. I’m fully aware of it, but I think quality journalism always wins, and you see that across the board.
DEADLINE: One thing the current FCC chairman has often has been bringing up lately is the low trust of the national news media. How do anchors get that back? How do you see your role in restoring that trust?
LLAMAS: I’m taking over for a guy who is the most trusted news anchor in America. That was Lester’s brand, and he earned that, and I think he earned that by doing the things you need to do as an anchor, and it’s what I’m going to do as well. … We didn’t write these two tenets in journalism, but I live by them as a reporter, as an anchor. You got to be tough but fair. So if you’re tough on the Republicans, you got to be tough on the Democrats, but fair. NBC News has always done that. And then you have to report the news without fear or favor. And then at the end of the day, I think you earn the viewers’ trust by making sure they know that even though I work for NBC News, I really work for them, and I believe that. I’m there to help them. I’m there to make sure that their questions are answered.
DEADLINE: Why do you think there is such low trust in the media?
LLAMAS: There’s a million reasons why. I don’t think there’s a single reason to say “This is the reason.” But I think that’s one way to look at the issue. I think the other way to look at it is that there are still millions and millions and millions of people that are tuning to places like Nightly News and are watching the Today show in the morning, that are trusting hours of their days with NBC News, because they still trust us. … If you look at someone like President Trump, who is coming on Meet the Press time and time again, it’s because he knows he’s going to get a fair shake. It’s because Kristen Welker has done a masterful job of helping Americans get information and being fair with President Trump.
DEADLINE: Trump has attacked you before. What is your approach to covering him? How do you handle it?
LLAMAS: You do it like we have been doing it, I guess it is going on 10 years now. … You just have to go out, you have to ask the tough questions, you have to understand that sometimes you’re going to get some incoming. That’s part of it. I think our NBC White House team has been really good at doing that, of asking the tough questions, and then sometimes taking the incoming and understanding that the story is not about us. It’s about what’s happening in this country and what’s happening to Americans and what’s happening overseas.
DEADLINE: A challenge in interviewing Trump is when he says something that is not true — when to point that out and when not to. What would your approach be?
LLAMAS: I don’t really love hypotheticals, but I think there’s a way to interview the president. This is just doing the job. … He might be a different person, but he’s still the president. And you interview any president the same way. It’s like I told you, if you follow those tenets of journalism, and you’re going in there without fear or favor, I think you’re going to get the job right. I think you should always be respectful, especially when you’re interviewing someone like the president of the United States, who is giving you the time. And also it’s important that you need to get information back, because, again, we’re working for the viewers, so if that interview gets derailed, that’s not going to help anybody out. You’re there to get answers, and you’re there to get the president to answer your questions. If he makes a mistake, if something is incorrect, of course, you’ve got to correct the record.
DEADLINE: You have gotten a number of what I call “big gets.” Do have any plans for a special interview during the first week?
LLAMAS: I don’t know if we’ll have any interviews. We always have lines out. … We have an incredible booking team that establishes a lot of these relationships, but I think you have to get on the phone yourself, and you have to make the calls, and I am, and we’re working on on interviews. … One of the most competitive parts of our business is getting those big interviews. They take a lot of work, and they take a lot of phone calls, and sometimes they take face-to-face meetings.
DEADLINE: What advice have you gotten from Lester Holt or other anchors you’ve worked with?
LLAMAS: I’ve been very, very lucky to have a lot of good mentors in this business. People like José Díaz-Balart at NBC, who is like a brother to me and is constantly giving me great, great advice. People like Byron Pitts, who I’m still very much in contact with, has always been a good friend to me. And Lester, throughout my career, has actually guided me and given me good advice. I’ve known him since I was 21 years old. I worked on his MSNBC show as a production assistant, and he’s always treated me the same way, even back then. Lester is such an amazing guy. He’s also an amazing journalist, and he’s just always been there for me. I’ve been coming to see him almost weekly since it was announced, just picking his brain about different things, and he’s offered some good advice. So much I’m going to keep to myself. Other [advice] that I can share, like we’ve talked a lot about family, and he’s kind of walked me through that. … He’s made it very clear to me how my life will change once it starts, and the things to be aware of. The other thing is that this is going to be a constant and open conversation. Lester is moving to Dateline, but he’s still going to be my friend. He’s still going to be a mentor to me.
DEADLINE: Do you have a nightly signoff?
LLAMAS: I always make it a point to thank viewers at the end of the broadcast. I have done that for a few years. That signature line, I don’t have yet. I think once it comes organically, if it comes, I’ll use it. But for right now, I just want the viewers to know that I’m grateful that they’re watching, that they spent their night with us, and that they’re going to be with us, and they’re supporting us.