Today

From Wikipedia:

Today (also referred to as The Today Show) is an American morning news and talk show airing every morning on NBC. Debuting on January 14, 1952, it was the first of its genre, spawning similar morning news and entertainment television programs across the United States and around the world. The show is also the third-longest running American television series. Originally a two-hour program on weekdays, it expanded to Sundays (currently one hour) in 1987 and Saturdays (two hours) in 1992. The weekday broadcast expanded to three hours in 2000, and a fourth hour launched in 2007.

The show's first broadcast aired on January 14, 1952. It was the brainchild of Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., who was then vice-president of NBC. Weaver was president of the company from 1953 to 1955, during which time Today's late-night companion The Tonight Show premiered. In pre-production, the show's proposed title was The Rise and Shine Revue.

Today was the first show of its genre when it signed on with original host Dave Garroway. The show blended national news headlines, in-depth interviews with newsmakers, lifestyle features, other light news and gimmicks (including the presence of the chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs as the show's mascot during the early years), and local station news updates. It has spawned several other shows of a similar type, including ABC's Good Morning America, and CBS' The Early Show. In other countries the format was copied – most notably in the United Kingdom with the BBC's Breakfast and ITV's Good Morning Britain and in Canada with Canada AM on CTV.

When Today started, it was seen live only in the Eastern and Central time zones, broadcasting three hours per morning but seen for only two hours in each time zone. Later, Today aired live for five hours a morning on Monday morning, but it was seen for only two consecutive hours in each of the four U.S. continental time zones. Since 1958, Today is tape-delayed for the different time zones. For many years it was a two-hour program from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. in all time zones except for Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. Virgin Islands, until NBC expanded it to three hours on October 2, 2000. A fourth hour was added on September 10, 2007. In some markets (such as Boston, Massachusetts, on WHDH-TV), the third and fourth hours of Today are aired on further tape delay.

During the first three hours, local affiliates are offered a five-minute window at :25 and :55 to insert a local newsbreak, although the show provides additional segments for those affiliates who do not do so.

When breaking news stories warrant, Today will broadcast a live West Coast edition. The live updates typically do not last longer than the 7:00 a.m. (PT) hour and once completed, will return to the taped East Coast feed. When the anchors welcome the viewers to the show, they will note the current time as being "Pacific Time" and continue to note it as such until the tape delay is started. In some instances, when NBC Special Reports occur during the Today timeslot, the show's anchors will assume hosting responsibilities.

 Studio

The Today program first originated from the RCA Exhibition Hall on 49th Street in a space now occupied by the Christie's auction house, just down the block from the current studio. The first set placed a functional newsroom in the studio, which Garroway called "the nerve center of the world." The barrier between backstage and on-stage was virtually nonexistent. Garroway and the on-air staff often walked through the newsroom set. Glimpses of camera crew and technicians were a frequent occurrence, as were off-screen voices conversing with Garroway. Gradually, machines and personnel were placed behind the scenes to assemble the news and weather reports, and the newsroom was gone by 1955. In 1958, the show moved across the street to Studio 3K in the RCA Building, where it remained through the early 1960s.

On July 9, 1962, the show returned to a streetside studio in the space then occupied by the Florida Showcase. On September 13, 1965, Today moved back to the RCA Building. The network's news programming went to all-color broadcasts at that time, and NBC could not justify allocating four (then-expensive) color cameras to the Florida Showcase studio.

Today is broadcast from Studio 1A in 10 Rockefeller Center, to the left of the GE Building

For the next twenty years, the show occupied a series of studios on the third, sixth, and eighth floors of NBC's headquarters; most notably Studio 3K in the 1970s, Studio 8G (adjacent to Studio 8H, home to Saturday Night Live) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and finally Studio 3B from 1983 to 1994. Today moved to the current streetside studio in June 13, 1994, providing a link to the show's 1950s origins.

Since the premiere of the 1990s set, the morning shows of each of the major broadcast and cable-news networks has moved streetside—including two of Today's Rockefeller Center neighbors, Fox News' Fox & Friends (at Avenue of the Americas) and CNN's American Morning. (In summer 2005, CNN reversed the trend, abandoning its street-level studio and moving upstairs in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle.) ABC's Good Morning America broadcasts from Times Square Studios.

In 2006, Studio 1A underwent a major renovation to prepare for 1080i high-definition broadcasting. After the departure of Katie Couric and while a new set was readied (Summer of 2006), the program was broadcast from a temporary outdoor studio in Rockefeller Plaza, the same set NBC used at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, Torino, Italy, and Beijing, China in 2008.[2] During the week of August 28, 2006, the show was moved to a temporary location outside of Studio 1A because MTV was converting the Outdoor Studio into their Red Carpet booth for the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. A mock set was set up in Dateline's studio, also used during inclement weather. Also, they used a temporary outdoor set at 30 Rock,and MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann (which joined at Studio 1A in 30 Rock on October 22, 2007).

On September 13, 2006, Today moved into its brand new set. The new studio is divided into five different parts on the lower level. It includes the interview area, the couch area, the news desk, the performance/interview/extra space area, and home base, which is where the anchors start the show. A gigantic Panasonic 103-inch plasma monitor is often used for graphic display backgrounds. A kitchen set is located upstairs from the main studio. The blue background that is seen in the opening of the show in home base moves up and down to allow a view of the outside from the home base. New graphics were introduced, which underwent only minor changes until they were updated on September 8, 2009, with the introduction of the new Your day is Today slogan.

Created by Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr.

Presented by

Matt Lauer

(1997–present)

Meredith Vieira

(2006-present)

Ann Curry

(1997–present)

Al Roker

(1996–present)

Natalie Morales

(2006–present)

Kathie Lee Gifford

(2008–present)

Hoda Kotb

(2007–present)

Other

Willard Scott

(1980–present)

Gene Shalit

(1973–present)

Narrated by Dick Dudley (former)

Fred Facey (former)

Les Marshak (current)

Theme music composer John Williams

Country of origin United States

No. of episodes 17,050 (as of August 7, 2009)

Production

Executive producer(s) Jim Bell

Location(s) Studio 1A, Rockefeller Center

Running time 240 minutes (4 hours)

Broadcast

Original channel NBC

Picture format 480i (SDTV),

1080i (HDTV)

Original run January 14, 1952 – present