077 Tom Llamas| curiosity informing truth

TOM'S BIO

On March 5, 2025, Tom Llamas was named as Lester Holt’s successor as anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News beginning in summer 2025. This episode is a re-released show originally released on October 26, 2023.

Tom's life and career are remarkable and he is a master of truth telling and the news media. He is an American journalist who was the weekend anchor for World News Tonight on ABC and is now Senior National Correspondent and anchor for NBC News Now, hosting Top Story with Tom Llamas, as well as substituting occasionally in NBC's Today and NBC Nightly News. He has won multiple Emmy Awards for "Best Anchor" and "Best Hard News Story as well an Edward R. Murrow award for his coverage of Hurricane Sandy. His first Emmy award was tied to his brilliant reporting on human smuggling and an interdiction at sea with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Llamas career in a nutshell: NBC News Specials Unit, MSNBC political reporting, NBC's WTVJ in Miami, WNBC in New York, NBC News, ABC News as sole weekend anchor and now back at NBC. Tom has covered the most important stories in recent history: The 2020 presidential race, the immigration crisis from the U.S. border with Mexico contributed, the death of U.S. war hero Senator John McCain, the rescue mission of the 12 Thai boys trapped in a cave, the sentencing of Bill Cosby, the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and many others. He has interviewed President Donald Trump, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Llamas was born and raised in Miami after his parents fled from Cuba during the 1960s. He graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans and lives in Manhattan.

EPISODE OUTLINE (0:00) - Intro

(0:38) - Bio

(01:06) - Discovering a talent, nurturing it, developing it; background informs perspective

(02:40) - Getting into the business; Telemundo at 15 years old

(04:48) - The path, learning the business, starting at the bottom

(05:48) - Media changing, citizen journalism; pros and cons, the future

(07:25) - Careers in new media, digital distribution, democratizing fame

(08:55) - Training as a journalist, ethics, laws, impartiality; 10,000 reps

(10:38) - Americans love variety; from burgers to tomato sauce to news

(11:42) - A story that sticks out