Craig Melvin earned the promotion of a lifetime this week.
In case you missed it, the long-time reporter was named as Hoda Kotb’s replacement on The Today Show… about one month after Kotb announced she was leaving her role as co-host on this iconic program.
She’ll remain a part of the NBC News family.
But Melvin will sit alongside Savannah Guthrie for the 7 and 8 a.m. hours starting on January 13, 2025.
“I am beyond excited and grateful,” an emotional Melvin said on air when this news was dropped on Thursday morning. “I’ve enjoyed just a lifetime of blessings, and this is the latest in a long line of blessings.”
The veteran journalist has spent years anchoring and co-anchoring on MSNBC; as well as on The Today Show.
Since 2018, he’s been co-anchoring the show’s 9 a.m. hour and “has been steady Eddie for 7 years – alongside Savannah and Hoda,” a source told Us Weekly a couple days ago, adding of Melvin:
“It was the right choice, the clear choice, the choice that everybody could get behind. He is so beloved.”
According to insiders, Melvin will make between $5-6 million per year due to his new role, which is far from shabby.
What else do we know about Craig Melvin?
Melvin got married to former ESPN sports anchor and former WRC-TV sports reporter Lindsay Czarniak on October 15, 2011.
They live in Connecticut and have a 10-year old son named Delano and an eight-year old daughter named Sybil.
In 2007, he was named Best Anchor by the South Carolina Broadcaster’s Association.
Prior to joining Today seven years ago, Melvin served as a Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly correspondent, a Dateline Extra anchor and got his career started as a reporter in Columbia, South Carolina.
Melvin also seems to have the strong support of his colleagues.
“You have all the things this job needs,” Kotb told Melvin after he was named as her replacement. “You are the right person for it.”
Also on air, Guthrie told Kotb that while she is “irreplaceable in our hearts,” she was excited about Melvin’s new role, referring to him as “talented, wonderful, hard-working, most worthy.”
Finally, weatherman and Al Roker joined on Zoom to congratulate Melvin during this Today segment.
“I knew that this day would come. I’ve watched you grow. I’ve seen you as a journalist, but more importantly, I’ve seen you as a dad, as a son, all the things that make you who you are,” he said to Melvin. “I am so proud and so happy for you right now because you are so worthy of this.”