NBC Nightly News Netcasts: “Thanks For Leading The Way”

Ten years from now, in college textbooks, professors may point to the launch of the NBC Nightly News Netcast as a turning point for new media.

Think I’m exaggerating? Tune in and see for yourself. NBC is broadcasting the most traditional product — a nightly newscast — on the most untraditional platform — the Internet.

Yes, it should be freely available at 6:30pm, not 10pm. But it’s here and it’s online and it’s a momentous step forward for broadcasting. Before the usual open, Williams hosts a brief introduction (a VLOG?) previewing the program for online viewers.

“For the first time in the history of NBC Nightly News, tonight’s airing of the broadcast will be the FIRST and not the LAST and ONLY airing of the evening,” Brian Williams blogged on Monday. “…It’s a new era and its time has come. While I’m just old enough to believe there’s a certain magic that comes with that moment when our studio digital clocks hit exactly 6:30:00 eastern time each night (when the three network evening newscasts come on the air), not everyone is able to give us their attention at that exact time. And so here we boldly go.”

95 people responded to the post. “Thanks for leading the way,” one person wrote. Ditto…