Early broadcast career Williams first worked in broadcasting in 1981 at
KOAM-TV in
Pittsburg, Kansas. The following year he covered news in the Washington, D.C., area at then-independent station
WTTG, then worked in Philadelphia for
WCAU, then owned and operated by CBS. Beginning in 1987 he broadcast in New York City at
WCBS. Williams joined NBC News in 1993, where he anchored the national
Saturday Nightly News and rotated with the national "Sunday Nightly News" until 1999 and was chief White House correspondent. In the summer of 1996 he began serving as anchor and managing editor of
The News with Brian Williams, broadcast on
MSNBC and
CNBC. Williams also served as primary substitute anchor on
The NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, and its Saturday anchor. He reported the accident and death of
Diana, Princess of Wales.
Rise and ouster at NBC Nightly News Williams became anchor of
NBC Nightly News on December 2, 2004, replacing the retiring
Tom Brokaw. In December 2004, when Williams took the helm, he had to apologize for saying there are "bigger problems" than newsroom diversity. NBC News President
Neal Shapiro vowed to redouble the company's minority hiring efforts. His coverage of
Hurricane Katrina was widely praised, particularly "for venting his anger and frustration over the government's failure to act quickly to help the victims." The network was awarded a
Peabody, the committee concluding that "Williams, and the entire staff of NBC Nightly News exemplified the highest levels of journalistic excellence."
NBC Nightly News also earned the
George Polk Award and the
duPont-Columbia University Award for its Katrina coverage.
Vanity Fair called Williams' work on Katrina "Murrow-worthy" and reported that during the hurricane, he became "a nation's anchor".
The New York Times characterized Williams' reporting of the hurricane as "a defining moment". However, Williams' statements about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath were received with scrutiny. For example, Williams referred inconsistently to a suicide inside the New Orleans
Superdome after Katrina. CNN reported in a 2005 television documentary that Williams said he was not a witness to the suicide: "We heard the story of a man killing himself, falling from the upper deck." Appearing on
The Daily Show in August 2006, Williams told host
Jon Stewart that he was nearly hit the previous month by
Katyusha rockets fired from
Lebanon by
Hezbollah while flying in an
Israeli Air Force (IAF)
Black Hawk helicopter: "Here's a view of rockets I have never seen, passing underneath us, 1,500 feet beneath us. And we've got the gunner doors on this thing, and I'm saying to the general, some
four-star: 'It wouldn't take much for them to adjust the aim and try to do a ring toss right through our open doors, would it?' Anytime you want to cross over to the other side, baby, travel with me." The claim was drawn into question since there are no four-star generals in the
Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli helicopter doors are routinely closed during flights and the IAF's Black Hawks do not carry gunners. An IDF spokesman who was on the helicopter in question did confirm afterwards that there was Katyusha fire and, although the helicopter was not in danger, the "trajectory of the rockets was beneath us." In 2007,
Time magazine named Williams one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2009, Williams was awarded the
Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism by
Arizona State University. At the announcement of the award,
Cronkite said he was one of Williams' "ardent admirers" and described him as a "fastidious newsman" who brought credit to the television news reporting profession. two in 2007, one in 2009, two in 2010, one in 2011, one in 2013, and one in 2014. The 2014 Emmy honor was awarded to
Nightly News for its coverage of a deadly
series of tornadoes in Oklahoma, for which it also received the
duPont-Columbia University Award. Williams also received a 2012 Emmy for his interview program
Rock Center and a 2013 Emmy for being one of the executive producers and editors of a documentary on the
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. On this note,
NBC Nightly News beat the other two network programs in the Nielsen ratings all but one week from late 2008 to late 2014. Soon after it aired, Williams' story was criticized by Lance Reynolds, a flight engineer on board one of the three
Chinook helicopters that had been attacked. Reynolds and other crew members said Williams had been aboard a separate group of helicopters from the helicopter that had been fired upon. Williams' helicopter was flying about half an hour behind and was forced to make an emergency landing because of a sandstorm rather than an attack. In a February 5, 2015 interview on CNN, the pilot of the Chinook in which Williams was traveling said that while the aircraft did not sustain RPG fire, it did indeed sustain small-arms fire and that the door gunners returned fire. Williams then claimed that several rounds missed him "by inches", which the Chinook crew chief denied. On February 10, 2015, NBC News President
Deborah Turness suspended Williams without pay for six months from his position as Managing Editor and Anchor of the
Nightly News broadcast for lying and for having misrepresented the Iraq incident. with a five-year contract signed in December 2014.
Rock Center with Brian Williams On October 4, 2011, it was announced that Williams would be the host of
Rock Center with Brian Williams, a news magazine program premiering on October 31, 2011, at 10:00 pm Eastern, replacing the canceled drama series
The Playboy Club. Named after the nickname of
Rockefeller Center, the
New York City landmark where
NBC Radio City Studios are located, the program would become the first new
NBC News program to launch in primetime in nearly two decades. NBC cancelled
Rock Center on May 10, 2013, due to low ratings. Additionally, the network was also having trouble finding a permanent time slot for the program. The last show aired on June 21, 2013. Williams reportedly felt "insulted" by the program's cancellation.
Return to MSNBC In September 2015, Williams returned to the air as
MSNBC's chief anchor. As part of his chief anchor duties, Williams anchored
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams, which was a nightly news and politics wrap-up show. Williams, alongside co-anchors
Rachel Maddow and
Joy Reid and lead analyst
Nicolle Wallace, led the network's coverage of the
2020 United States presidential election. Williams announced on the November 9, 2021, episode of
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams that he would be leaving NBC News and MSNBC at the expiration of his contract the following month, after five years hosting the show and 28 years with the company. His final episode as host was December 9, 2021.
Other activities On November 13, 1999 and November 14, 1999, Williams served as host for
NBC Sports' first live broadcasts of
NASCAR races at the
Homestead-Miami Speedway. Williams frequently appeared on
The Daily Show as a celebrity guest interviewed by
Jon Stewart and in 2007, made regular cameos as a giant head sidekick looking on Jon Stewart and helping out with pronunciations of foreign names and occasionally other foreign affairs all beginning at the premiere of the new
Daily Show set. He appeared on the
Weekend Update segment of the season 32 premiere of
Saturday Night Live, hosted by
Dane Cook. He then hosted a season 33 episode on November 3, 2007, becoming the first, and still only, sitting network news anchor to host the show. Williams appeared on
Sesame Street in a 2007 episode, announcing the word of the day, "squid", in a special broadcast. Williams appeared on
Sesame Street again in a 2008 episode, reporting for
Sesame Street Nightly News about the "mine-itis" outbreak, becoming a victim. He was also the host of the 2009 Annual Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala. The following season, he appeared in another episode "Lying Is Bad". On February 22, 2010, while covering the Winter Olympics, Williams did a skit with
Brian Williams, the Canadian sportscaster of
CTV Sports, on the CTV Olympic set. Some in the media dubbed this the new "
Battle of the Brians", as NBC's Williams compared his own modest set to CTV's expensive Olympic studio. Williams regularly appeared on
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where he
slow jams the news of the previous week as Fallon sings and reiterates what Williams says, with
The Roots providing the musical backing. A mash-up video created by Fallon, where Williams appears to
rap to hip-hop instrumentals, became popular within a few hours. Williams has also made numerous appearances on
Late Show with David Letterman. During an appearance on July 26, 2011, he demonstrated a skilled vocal impersonation of TV personality
Regis Philbin. He has also appeared on ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', where he took part in numerous skits and interviews. Williams made frequent guest appearances on NBC's television comedy
30 Rock, as a caricatured version of himself. In the episode "
The Ones", he is seen at home receiving proposition calls meant for Tracy Jordan. In "
Audition Day", he auditions to be a new TGS cast member. He also is seen once on the show taunting Tina Fey's character,
Liz Lemon. In April 2012, on the West Coast installment of the
30 Rock season6 live show, Williams portrayed a news anchor covering the Apollo 13 story. Williams was the commencement speaker at
Bates College in May 2005,
The Catholic University of America in May 2004,
Ohio State University in June 2008, and at the
University of Notre Dame in 2010. In May 2012, he spoke at the
George Washington University commencement on the
National Mall. He was the commencement speaker for
Elon University's graduating class of 2013, which included his son Douglas. Williams also collaborated on the
Encyclopedia of World History from Backpack Books published in 2003. Williams has written for publications including
The New York Times and
Time magazine. ==Personal life==