Brian Williams

Brian Williams
Williams at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	(1959-05-05) May 5, 1959 Elmira, New York
Status	Married
Occupation	Television Journalist Reporter
Notable credit(s)	NBC News reporter (1993–present) NBC Nightly News anchor (2004–present)
Spouse	Jane Stoddard Williams
Website	http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3667173/

For other uses, see [[:the American journalist]].

Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is the seventh anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the flagship evening news program of the NBC television network. Williams replaced Tom Brokaw on December 2, 2004. Previously, Williams was the network's chief White House correspondent and host of The News with Brian Williams on CNBC and MSNBC. In 2007, Williams was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World. He lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, with his wife, Jane Stoddard Williams, one of their two children and two dogs.

Early life and career

The son of a business executive, Williams was raised in a middle class Irish Catholic home. In his childhood his family moved from his birth place, Elmira, New York, to Middletown, New Jersey. He graduated from Mater Dei High School, a Roman Catholic high school in the New Monmouth section of Middletown. While in high school, he was a volunteer firefighter for three years at the Middletown Township (New Jersey) Fire Department. After high school, he attended Brookdale Community College, before transferring to George Washington University, and then to the Catholic University of America. He did not graduate, instead taking an internship with the administration of President Jimmy Carter. He now calls leaving college one of his "great regrets." In 2004, he returned to Catholic University and gave the commencement address, and in 2008 he received an honorary Doctor of Journalism degree from The Ohio State University.

After working in the lobbying arm of the National Association of Broadcasters, Williams began his broadcasting career at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, Kansas in 1981. A year later he moved back to Washington, D.C. and worked at WTTG-TV as general assignment correspondent. He replaced Maury Povich as host of locally produced Washington D.C chat show Panorama in 1985. In 1985, Williams was hired by CBS and worked as New Jersey correspondent for its Philadelphia affiliate, WCAU-TV. In 1987 Williams was promoted to WCBS-TV in New York, where he soon began anchoring its noon news. He won his first Emmy for his reporting of the October 1987 stock market collapse. In 1993 Williams was hired by NBC national news as its weekend anchor, and in 1994 became the network's chief White House correspondent. In 1996, he began an eight-year run as lead anchor of The News with Brian Williams on MSNBC and CNBC.

He is a former smoker.

Salary History

2004 - In December 2004, Williams succeeded Tom Brokaw as anchor of NBC Nightly News. His yearly salary is reported to be $8,000,000.

2006 - In October 2006, Williams reported yearly salary was reportedly not less than $10,000,000 according to Steve Capus (Then: NBC News Chief, Now: NBC News President).

Appearances

He frequently appears on The Daily Show as a celebrity guest and interviewed by Jon Stewart. A running gag involving his head being projected on a screen behind Stewart was used several times after The Daily Show moved to a new set in April 2007. He also appears often on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

He also appeared on Saturday Night Live on September 30, 2006 to co-anchor the Weekend Update segment with Amy Poehler, but is told by Poehler that Seth Meyers will be co-anchoring the segment. On August 26,2007 he appeared live with Poehler and Meyers as guest monologist at ASSSSCAT 3000, a weekly show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre hosted by the Upright Citizens Brigade, of which Poehler is a founder.

Williams hosted the November 3, 2007 episode of Saturday Night Live. He hosted after a hectic week of moderating the Democratic presidential debate at Drexel University. After moderating the debate which ended at 11PM, he took a ride back to New York to rehearse the show until 6AM Wednesday. On SNL, he offered a monologue where he poked fun at himself being unable to break out of the anchor mode, and played the roles of a NYC fireman on a local talk show speaking about fire safety, an actor who just discovered he lost his job as he is playing his final role, the debate moderator who confirms that the "media" has already chosen Hillary Clinton as its winner, and as himself preparing a new James Bond-like intro to NBC Nightly News.

At the 2007 Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner, Williams was pulled up on stage by improv comedians Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood and made sound effects as the two comedians performed a skit.

In 2007, he agreed to participate in an award and broadcast by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society for citizen awards. The Above & Beyond Citizen Honors will be broadcast in March 2008.

On May 19, 2007, Williams delivered the keynote speech at the New Orleans Arena for the Tulane University Class of 2007 Commencement. He previously was awarded the university's highest award, the Tulane President's Medal, on May 31, 2006.

Williams received an honorary Doctorate degree in Journalism and served as the keynote speaker at the Spring Commencement at The Ohio State University on June 8th, 2008.

Notable coverage

• TWA Flight 800
• Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
• Overthrow of the King of Nepal
• Death of Pope John Paul II
• Hurricane Katrina (Was the only network news anchor to be in the region when the storm hit; stuck out the hurricane inside the Louisiana Superdome)
• Shooting at Northern Illinois University
• Virginia Tech massacre
• I-35W bridge collapse
• Mainland China earthquake
• Attack on Syrian nuclear facilities
• Surge in Iraq
• Victory of Senator Barack Obama in 2008 Democratic Primary
• 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
• The death of NBC Washington Bureau Chief and Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert.

External links

• NBC News Bio
• The Daily Nightly - Brian Williams's blog
• Bio and photo of Brian Williams — Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 — 1998
• Video of talk to journalists group - from SAJAforum.org
• Men's Vogue profile of Brian Williams