To mark the 15th anniversary of TVNewser this month, Adweek honored the 30 Most Impactful TV Newsers of the Past 15 Years, spotlighting the personalities and execs who were instrumental in the industry’s incredible decade-and-a-half evolution. TVNewser will be presenting expanded versions of each honoree’s interview
Hoda Kotb:
- Job now: Co-anchor, Today; co-host, Today’s fourth hour
- Job 15 years ago: Correspondent, Dateline NBC
Adweek: What were you doing 15 years ago (in January 2004)?
Kotb: I was working at Dateline. I was probably covering a murder story. It was probably the husband who did it. And – I’m sure I was traveling somewhere because I was always on the go. I was going city to city and country to country in some cases to cover stories. I remember thinking when I was working at Dateline that I was a little in over my head. I felt like I had to earn that job even though I had gotten it. I spent almost every day trying to do that.
What’s your favorite professional moment of the past 15 years?
This doesn’t sound professional, but it is. In February of 2017, I was off of work. I called into the show to tell the people I worked with that the reason I was off was because I had a daughter. I know that’s a professional/personal merge. But that was what it was – my best personal/professional memory.
What is the biggest way that TV news has changed over the past 15 years?
Now, you can’t sit on anything for five minutes. You have to try to confirm it and go with it. You used to have a lot more time to work on a story, and if you had a scoop, it wasn’t just going to get out some other way. Now, with all the ways that news is disseminated, you have to work fast and you have to work 24 hours. Things change moment by moment. It’s just the pace, the rapid pace.
Who have you learned the most from in your career? What did they teach you?
In every phase of my career there’s been somebody I’ve learned from. When I was in New Orleans, there was an anchor I worked with named Angela Hill (WWL-TV). I remember watching her communicate with people in a way I’d never seen before. She was like the Oprah of New Orleans, and I’d never seen someone hold a room or tell a story the way she did.
When I sat down with Kathie Lee, it was a masterclass in television — how to do a TV talk show. I watched and learned how she was fearless and free.
And the third person I’ve learned a lot from is Savannah [Guthrie]. I watch her interviews and it’s with a precision that I haven’t seen before. You think you know where she’s going but she’s thought it out four steps ahead. She’s already got the answer and she’s got the next question and she’s already navigating.
Which of your competitiors do you admire?
I admire Gayle King. Gayle keeps it real. She understands that life is more than getting the best story on the air in the quickest way. When she sits down for an interview, you believe 1000 percent she’s interested. I admire how her career has evolved over time. She seems like she does what she wants, and she’s carved out her own kind of professional world.
What do you know now about the business that you didn’t 15 years ago?
That all your little mistakes don’t really matter that much. I thought every time I tripped (which was often) that it was fatal. I remember thinking how will I ever recover?
Also, when you’re younger in your career you think about deadlines and scoops. When you get older in your career, you realize you are telling stories about people. I have learned that it’s about the people and not about the process.
What has been your toughest professional challenge during the past 15 years?
I was terrible at live shots. Terrible. I couldn’t remember things. I used to write down basic details of where I was so I’d be more prepared, but it was still really hard. Now I do live TV for hours. What? What happened? Nobody knows.