There’s scant few shows of any kind that have had the kind of relative stability than has been seen with NBC NIGHTLY NEWS. When the show was retitiled and shifted to a single anchor after the retirement of the Chet half of the HUNTLEY-BRINKLEY REPORT (that would have been Huntley for those not of a certain age) in 1970, a mere four men have held the job in the 55 ensuing years. John Chancellor, Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams and Lester Holt. Each had the gig at least a decade–Brokaw for 22 years.
And tonight, Tom Llamas will become number five. Like the others, a homegrown talent; Llamas having risen through the ranks of the owned-and-operated stations, including the local news battleground markets of New York and Miami. Indeed, he’s a native of South Florida and actually started his career as a teenager interning for Telemundo 51–technically part of the NBCU family themselves. And as Madeline Marr of his hometown HERALD celebrated yesterday, he is feverishly loyal to his roots:
“It was a great life. Little League… roasting pigs in the backyard, a very typical life in Miami. An amazing experience. You could play sports year round. You could be at the beach year round,” said the avid fisherman. “I am 305 through and through. It’s in my DNA.”
Favorite old-school (and now defunct) hangouts included the Bakery Centre (the site of Shops at Sunset Place); Specs records store; the original CocoWalk; and – going way back to the archives – Whirlyball.
“It was like this concept of bumper cars and wiffle ball and jai alai,” Llamas explained. “It sounds like a Miami fever dream.”
These days, you’ll catch the media superstar with his wife and three kids at iconic spots like Versailles (“a classic”), Pinecrest Bakery (“the best pastelitos”), Joe’s Stone Crab (for the colossals) and Faena (their kids love the “blinged out fossil.”)
As for local sports? Llamas is still all about the U, aka the University of Miami’s Hurricanes, which won five national championships in the 1980s and ‘90s.
“Some of my best memories with my dad are going to the Orange Bowl and watching them just dominate,” he said, adding he still catches Marlins and Dolphins games every now and again. “Those were great teams and great years for a very long time.”
That journey describes an awful lot of special people in my life, including the part where some have wound up elsewhere geographically. For Llamas, there was also a seven-year stretch at ABC where he was theoretically being groomed as a potential Plan B for the network’s David Muir, who was seen as a bit of a gamble when he took over WORLD NEWS TONIGHT. Llamas was weekend anchor and an occasional fill-in for Muir. But Muir took full advantage of the confusion going on at his competitors, including Williams’ abrupt departure in 2015 when it was revealed that he misrepresented events while covering the Iraq War more than a decade earlier. And if you’re even a sporadic fan of our musings, you’re well up to speed at what’s gone down at CBS, once the standardbearer and unquestioned daypart leader, now a mere shadow of what it once was.
Llamas read the tea leaves and took the opportunity to return to the network in 2021, just as they were building out the NBC NEWS NOW platform. A far less biased and opinion-driven counterpart to MSNBC that took the tenacity and efficiency of their owned-and-operated stations’ talents, leaning heavily on the intrepid gang at TV 6 in Miramar. And for folks like myself who fumbled with autoplay settings on YouTube when I needed far more distraction than ever, NBC NEWS NOW became a constant companion. Yep, I’ve previously mused about that, too.
And true to his tenacity and, per some, his overaggressiveness, at least for the time being he’s going to continue to have a digital presence as well. DEADLINE’s Ted Johnson explained that in his piece that dropped yesterday:
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. 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.
Not to mention a few older and lapsed ones like moi. Indeed, when the algorithm and timing allowed for it, Holt’s broadcasts were right behind those of Llamas or Hallie Williams in my queue. So, too, are all six days of the MEET THE PRESS franchise, which has only been in this game for 78 years. I’m a far more regular viewer of that show now than when I regularly devoted Sunday mornings to news programming by default. For all of the attention that’s been given to how late night viewing habits have evolved (to many, devolved) news viewing habits, particularly in the NBCUnivers-e, have undergone even more dramatic change. Llamas has been in the forefront of it, which makes him an ideal choice to bring some of that energy and innovation to old-school linear TV.
Fortunately, he’s boarding a relatively stable ship numbers-wise. Johnson spelled that out in his piece–NBC is a very comfortable number two. And, to date, they haven’t ponied up any spare shekels for protection money to funnel to the White House. But now that Llamas will become the face of the company’s most popular news broadcast, like it or not he’s going to be associated with his colleagues at CNBC who have made Taco jokes all the rage and the aforementioned “MSDNC” folks, because Versant or no Versant old habits of association are hard to break–especially among older viewers with limited capacities.
And when Johnson posited a hypothetical all the more likely to become a reality–dealing directly with Fat Orange Jesus–Llamas was unflinching in his confidence and resolve:
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.
I’m not all that confident it’s always going to be all that simple, and now that he’s regularly going to be reaching millions he’s going to be in a lot more crosshairs than he has been. Those lazy, hazy days of winter in the 305 might look realllly distant when midterm campaigns begin in earnest, and who knows what might happen when (if?) the next presidential election takes shape. I’m much more likely to place a wager (in theory only) on there being more days ahead when he might think all the more longingly about bumper cars and jai alai.
FWIW, I’ll be rooting for Llamas. Much as I would any confident overachiever with South Florida roots.
Until next time…