Chuck Todd announced his departure from NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday after nine years moderating the storied political talk show. Kristen Welker will replace him in the coming months.
Summary
Chuck Todd announced his departure from NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday after nine years moderating the storied political talk show. Kristen Welker will replace him in the coming months.
- Todd told viewers of his plans at the start of Sunday’s “Meet the Press.” ““While today is not my final show, this will be my final summer here at Meet the Press,” Todd said. “I am really proud of what this team and I have built over the last decade.”
- “Meet the Press” first aired in 1947, and its decades-long run as a Sunday morning political roundtable show peaked during the Tim Russert years from 1991 until his death in 2008. David Gregory eventually replaced Russert but was forced out in 2014 in favor of Todd.
- Todd, 51, has been given the role of chief political analyst and will still be featured on NBC News. Welker, 46, will take over as the second woman to moderate the show since Martha Rountree, the show’s inaugural host when it debuted in 1947.
- Welker has worked for NBC News since 2011 and was formerly the network’s chief White House correspondent. Aside from serving as Todd’s backup host for the last three years, she may be best known to audiences as the moderator of the final 2020 presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
- The New York Times noted, “Todd took over “Meet the Press” for David Gregory, who became its moderator after the death of Tim Russert in 2008. Viewership of the show has slid significantly in the years after Mr. Russert’s death.”
- Even so, as the Washington Post observed, “’Meet the Press’ still draws big audiences, averaging 2.57 million total viewers in the 2021 to 2022 broadcast season. Among total viewers, the show trailed its competitors on CBS (“Face the Nation”) and ABC (“This Week”), though it came in second place in the age demographic most valued by advertisers.”
- Todd complimented Welker, who will take over in September. “I’ve had the privilege of working with [Welker] from essentially her first day and let me just say she’s the right person in the right moment,” Todd said, according to CNN.
- National Review quoted from an internal memo circulated among NBC News staff. Todd’s program “has sustained its historic role as the indispensable news program on Sunday mornings,” the memo said. “Through his penetrating interviews with many of the most important newsmakers, the show has played an essential role in politics and policy, routinely made front-page news, and framed the thinking in Washington and beyond.”
- Fox News quoted Todd’s departure announcement: “This is also an important time for me personally. I’ve let work consume me for nearly 30 years. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t wake up before 5:00 Or 6:00 a.m. And I’ve watched too many friends and family let work consume them before it was too late, I promised my family I wouldn’t do that,” Todd said.
- The Washington Examiner highlighted the conclusion of Todd’s show on Sunday. “The goal of this and every Meet the Press episode is to do all of the following in one informative hour — make you mad, make you think, shake your head in disapproval, and nod your head in approval,“ Todd said. “If you do all of that in one hour of this show, we’ve done our job.”
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© Dominic Moore, 2023
