Sunday, May 24, 2026

A Today Show First: Hoda Kotb Named Co-Anchor with Savannah Guthrie

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NBC News and the Today Show made a great decision this morning. It’s not a broadcast first but a first for the Today Show certainly. They named Hoda Kotb as co-anchor of the Today Show, with Savannah Guthrie. It’s the first time two women have anchored a morning show together since Robin Roberts and Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America.”

Barbara Walters must be smiling. She was the first female co-anchor of Today or any show pretty much. She fought like crazy to get that distinction and gained it in 1974 after 13 years with the show. Other women followed Walters including Jane Pauley, Deborah Norville, Katie Couric, Meredith Vieira, and Savannah Guthrie. But two women, no male anchor? It took the firing of Matt Lauer for it to happen.

Hoda, who is wildly popular, will also continue to co-host the 10am hour with Kathie Lee Gifford. This means Kotb, 53, and a recent mother, is now the most powerful woman at NBC News. And that’s really good news for a change.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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