‘Today Show’ Senior Staffer To Become Burbank Bureau Chief

‘Today Show’ senior staff member Polly Powell is heading west in a few months, to become the Burbank bureau chief. Powell was named Senior Broadcast Producer in September 2003, after many years working for ‘Dateline’ in Burbank. The move was announced internally on Thursday. There’s no word on who will replace her on ‘Today,’ since she won’t be leaving NY for a few months.

> An anonymous tipster wonders if Powell jumped or was pushed. “The ship at the Today Show is anything but stable,” they e-mailed. Maybe she just enjoys the West Coast more than the Big Apple?

> Update: 4:20pm: “The better question is, what’s happening to current and long-time bureau chief Heather Allen?,” one e-mailer says. (Update update: LostRemote says she was moved up the NBC News ladder earlier this year.) AND: “No one gives up the #2 job at the Today Show willingly,” another person writes…

> Update: 5:31pm: The story has been updated to call Powell a “senior staffer,” not the show’s #2.