Congratulations, Lester Holt! Today, you were officially announced as the 10th anchor1 of the NBC evening newscast. Holt is the second African-American to become the anchor of a major weekday nightly news telecast (Max Robinson was first, at ABC News) and the first African-American solo anchor.
Holt, who has been anchoring in a temporary role since Feb. 9, takes over for Brian Williams, who will join MSNBC. While Williams’s reign ended under sorry circumstances (i.e., he lied many times and got caught), he can take heart in this: With his 10.2 years at the helm, Williams had control over NBC’s “Nightly News” for longer than the average NBC evening news anchor that came before him (9.5 years). Williams’s stint also was slightly longer than that of the average CBS evening news anchor (9.9 years) and far longer than that of the average ABC evening news anchor (3.1 years).
We’ll have to see if Holt can catch Williams’s mark. Good luck!
