Craig Melvin earned the promotion of a lifetime this week.
In case you missed it, the longtime reporter was named as Hoda Kotb’s replacement on The Today Show… about a month after Kotb announced she would be stepping down as co-host on the prestigious program. She was leaving her role as Rup.
She will remain a part of the NBC News family.
But Melvin will be sitting down with Savannah Guthrie at 7 and 8 a.m. starting January 13, 2025.
“I’m extremely excited and grateful,” an emotional Melvin said when the news broke Thursday morning. “I have enjoyed blessings throughout my life, and this is the latest in a long series of blessings.”
The veteran journalist has spent years anchoring and co-anchoring on MSNBC; Also on The Today Show.
Since 2018, he’s been co-anchoring the show’s 9 a.m. timeslot and “has been an AD for 7 years straight — with Savannah and Hoda,” a source told Us Weekly a few days ago, adding Melvin : :
“It was the right choice, the clear choice, the choice that everyone could support. He is very cute.”
According to insiders, Melvin will make between $5-6 million per year in his new role, which is far from broke.
What else do we know about Craig Melvin?
melvin got married To former ESPN sports anchor and former WRC-TV sports reporter Lindsay Czarniak on October 15, 2011.
they live in connecticut And they have a 10-year-old son named Delano and an eight-year-old daughter named Sybil.
in 2007, He was awarded the title of best anchor By the South Carolina Broadcasters Association.
Before joining seven years ago, Melvin worked as a correspondent for Sunday Night with Megyn KellyStarted her career as a Dateline Xtra anchor and a reporter in Columbia, South Carolina.
It seems that Melvin has strong support from his colleagues as well.
“You have everything it takes for this job,” Kotb told Melvin after he was named as his replacement. “You’re the right person for this.”
Also on air, Guthrie told Kotb that although he is “irreplaceable in our hearts”, she was excited about Melvin’s new role, describing Melvin as “talented, amazing, hard-working, the most deserving.”
Finally, the Weatherman and Al Roker joined him on Zoom to congratulate Melvin during the TODAY segment.
“I knew this day would come. I have seen you grow. “I’ve seen you as a journalist, but more importantly, I’ve seen you as a father, a son, all the things that make you who you are,” he told Melvin. “I’m so proud and so happy for you right now because you deserve it.”