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Early Today

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Early Today
GenreOvernight and early morning news program
Presented byFrances Rivera
Michelle Grossman
(for past anchors,see section)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No.of seasons16
Production
Production locationsNBC Studios
New York, New York
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running timeapprox. 23 minutes
Production companyNBC News Productions
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 9, 1999(1999-09-09)–
present
Related

Early Todayis an American early morningtelevision news programthat is broadcast onNBCon weekday mornings. The program features general national and international news stories, financial and entertainment news, off-beat stories, national weather forecasts, and sports highlights.

As of 2024,it has beenanchoredbyFrances Rivera.[citation needed]

Overview

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Early Todayis the only early morning network newscast on any of thethree largest U.S. television networks(NBC,ABC,orCBS) that is not produced jointly with an overnight news program.[citation needed]NBC has not aired an overnight newscast since the 1998 cancellation ofNBC Nightside,which aired alongsideEarly Todayduring the latter program's first few months.[citation needed]

As of 2019, the program broadcasts three unique half hour shows (at 3:00 a.m., 3:30 a.m., and 4:00 a.m.Eastern Time) and is then tape delayed in a continuous half-hour loop until 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time; the show produces an additional half hour live at 6:30 a.m.[citation needed]

On September 11, 2017, NBC discontinued same-date reruns of CNBC'sMad Moneyfrom its late night schedule in order to accommodate the earlier live broadcast (before that date,Early Todaywas first broadcast live at 4:00 a.m. ET). As a result, some NBC affiliates that did not choose to fill the time period formerly occupied by theMad Moneyreplays with syndicated programs orinfomercialsfollowing the change now airEarly Todayin the form of two separate editions or as a 90-minute to 2½-hour loop – in which case, the program competes againstABC'sWorld News Nowand theCBS News Roundup,effectively resulting inEarly Todayacting as NBC'sde factoovernight network newscast, especially west of the boundary of theCentral Time Zone.[citation needed]

The program usually airs as a lead-in to local morning newscasts on most NBC stations, although in the few markets where a morning newscast is not produced by the station, it may air in a two- to three-hour loop immediately before the start ofToday,which is how it airs on the NBC News Now streaming service before leading into that service's morning newscast,Morning News Now.The show may be updated for any breaking news occurring before 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time, after which time any livebreaking newsrequiring network-level coverage, at the station's local discretion in each time zone or network orders for live coverage, is under full oversight ofTodayand their staffers.[citation needed]

Early TodayandFirst Lookare traditionally pre-empted during theSummerandWinter Olympic Gamesto allow the airing of overnight replays of NBC's primetime Olympic event coverage and live coverage on the NBC broadcast network and MSNBC, along with allowing stations to fulfill syndicated programming requirements where a distributor requires their programs to still air in some form with the open slot, albeit during the overnights.[citation needed]

History

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The program's logo during its CNBC-produced run.
Former title card from the late 2000s.
Former title card from 2013-2019.

Origins

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Early Todaypremiered on September 9, 1999[1]as a replacement forNBC News at Sunrise,which NBC decided to cancel in April 1999 as part of a major shakeup of the network's daytime and early morning schedules (these changes included the launch of anotherToday-branded program, the short-lived talk showLater Today,as well as the cancellation of the long-runningsoap operaAnother World).[2]TheEarly Todaytitle had previously been used for another early morning news program produced byNBC Newsfrom 1982 to 1983 (and was replaced byNBC News at Sunrisefollowing its cancellation), which featured the hosts of NBC'sTodayat the time –Jane Pauley,Bryant GumbelandWillard Scott.

Originally produced from the formerFort Lee,New Jerseyfacilities of NBC's sister financial news cable network,CNBC,and focusing on business and financial news (including a modified version of theCNBC Tickerthat showed stock prices and weather forecasts for select U.S. cities), the program switched to a general news format in 2004. As part of this reformatting, production of the program was relocated to theSecaucusheadquarters ofMSNBC.Concurrently, formerSaturday TodayanchorAmy Robachreplaced the program's original anchorNanette Hansen.

Post CNBC era

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MSNBC'sMorning Joe First Look,which airs at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time, is a repurposed version of the network newscast using the weathercasters and segments. Until 2013, the sports segment was produced from theLos Angelesstudios of NBCowned-and-operated stationKNBC,using eitherFred Rogginor Mario Solis as anchors; the segment was recorded after that station's 11:00 p.m.Pacific Timenewscast for later airing and to account for most West Coast sports results, but was aired without any differences on bothFirst LookandEarly Today(the segment is now conducted live-to-tape during both programs from the newsroom at NBC Studios). Some segments seen onEarly Todayare excluded fromFirst Look,mainly the local weather cut-in (which does not appear at all on many NBC stations that broadcastEarly Today,showing only a list of forecasts for seven randomly selected U.S. cities) and a local eventbarkerfeaturing a promotion for an NBC affiliate serving the city where the event is being held (which was dropped from the NBC program in 2013), while a small number of stories seen onEarly Todaymay not be seen onFirst Look.

Some NBC affiliates do not air the entire program, and a purposeful sign-off is made by the show's anchor at the 24-minute mark 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 telecast for stations that carry the entire program. Since NBC's corporate parentNBCUniversalacquired part-ownership ofThe Weather Channelin 2008, weather forecasts used on the program incorporate the channel's branding and forecasts, althoughEarly Todayused repurposed graphics systems from the defunctdigital multicastweather networkNBC Weather Plus,which provided forecasts for the program until it shut down in 2008.

In September 2007, the program, as with the rest of MSNBC's operations, moved from the previous Secaucus, New Jersey headquarters to the network's combined news headquarters at30 Rockefeller Plazain theNew York Cityborough ofManhattan,with MSNBC, in October 2007. MSNBC'smaster controlfacilities were relocated to the CNBC Headquarters at the NBC Universal Network Organization Center inEnglewood Cliffs, New Jersey.Until a revamp of the set used for both programs in 2011, the anchor background onEarly Todaywas a video screen of a sunrise scene; askycamshot ofManhattanwas used forFirst Look.

On June 29, 2009, concurrent with the launch ofMSNBC's high definition simulcast feed,Early Todaybecame the first early morning network newscast to begin broadcasting inhigh definition.

The program had aired live at 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time until March 1, 2010, when the initial broadcast of the show was moved to 4:00 a.m. Eastern to allow stations in the Eastern Time Zone to begin their morning newscasts at 4:30 a.m. with anEarly Todaylead-out; previously without the new schedule in some cases, theNBC All Nightrepeat ofLate Night with Jimmy Fallonwould 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 in the overnight hours. As of 2019, the show is now offered live as early as 3:00 a.m. Eastern.

Further brand integration withTodaycame in December 2013, whenEarly Todayintroduced a new graphics package based on that used by the network's flagship morning show since August of that year, as well as a modified version of that program's "orange sunrise" logo.[3]

Notable on-air staff

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Current on-air staff

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  • Frances Rivera– anchor (2014–2015, 2016–present)
  • Michelle Grossman – meteorologist (2022–present)

Former on-air staff

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Anchors
Meteorologists
Business anchor

International broadcasts

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MSNBC and NBC News programming, includingEarly Todayand several other shows, is shown for several hours a day on the 24-hour news channelOSN Newsin theMiddle East & Northern Africaregion, and where available, streaming through NBC News Now, which was formerly available onSky UKas a channel in its own right before its discontinuation in December 2023.

See also

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References

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  1. ^"BEST BETS (LIFE & LEISURE)".Albany Times Union.HighBeam Research.September 7, 1999. Archived fromthe originalon September 4, 2013.
  2. ^"NBC reorganizes daytime programming".Broadcasting & Cable.HighBeam Research. April 19, 1999. Archived fromthe originalon March 29, 2015.
  3. ^"'Early Today' updates look, matches big brother ".NewscastStudio.December 18, 2013.RetrievedFebruary 9,2015.
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