With Natalie Morales‘ departure for Access Hollywood, a Today show mainstay will be no more.
The news anchor position won’t be filled, insiders tell us. Since the show returned from Rio, anchors Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie have been reading the news headlines and tossing to stories reported by NBC News correspondents at 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.
The news reader position dates back almost to the creation of the show. Frank Blair was news anchor from 1953 to 1975, followed by other notables including Floyd Kalber, Chris Wallace, John Palmer, Deborah Norville, Faith Daniels, Lauer, Ann Curry, and, since 2011, Morales.
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From 1979 to 1981 the show also went without a news anchor during the time Jane Pauley and Tom Brokaw were co-anchors.