The Transformation Of Hoda Kotb's Today Show Replacement, Craig Melvin

When examining the untold truth of Craig Melvin, there's a lot to consider. A veteran journalist with NBC News, Melvin has been a familiar face to viewers of NBC's flagship morning show, "Today," even before he officially joined the show in 2018. In late 2024, there was a big shakeup when he and the rest of the "Today" gang learned they'd be bidding farewell to Hoda Kotb, whose decision to leave the show was reportedly messier than anyone thought.

At that time, Melvin received a big vote of confidence from NBC when he was tapped to take Kotb's spot at the anchor desk, co-hosting the first two hours of "Today" alongside Savannah Guthrie. "The larger staff found out this morning, and people broke into applause," Guthrie told "Today" viewers when announcing the news. "This is one of the most popular decisions NBC News has ever made!" Since taking over Kotb's spot in January 2025, fans have certainly embraced Melvin in his new role, yet they may not be aware that there's a lot more to him than the smiling visage beaming from television screens each morning.

His journey from a difficult childhood to the heights of network news has been a fascinating ride, and it's far from over. To find out more, read on to experience the transformation of Hoda Kotb's "Today" show replacement, Craig Melvin.

Craig Melvin was born in 1979 in Columbia, South Carolina. His father, Lawrence Melvin, had a difficult history. Lawrence's mother was serving a stint in prison when Craig's father was born, entering the world behind bards. As a father to the future newscaster, he wasn't around a lot when Craig was growing up due to various addictions.

Craig went on to chronicle their difficult relationship in his 2021 book, "Pops: Learning to Be a Son and a Father," and he didn't gloss over any of the more disturbing details. As Craig wrote, his father was such an absent, infrequent presence in his life that the youngster's friends came up with the nickname "Ghost" for his dad. "The nickname really bugged me," Melvin wrote in his book (via Today). "Most of my other friends, their dads were present. I had written mine off ... He was like a ghost: there, but not there." He did, however, manage to rack up huge gambling debts, forcing Craig's mother, Betty Jo Melvin, to take several jobs to keep the family afloat.

As he explained during a 2021 interview with "Today," it was his mother, Betty Jo Melvin, who is the true hero in his life. "For her, I think it was hard because the title of the book is 'Pops.' And the reality is, for most of my life, she played the role of Mom AND Pops," he said. "And the reality is, I would not be where I am professionally and personally had it not been for my mother."

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While growing up, Craig Melvin developed an interest in television news. In fact, he was still a student at Columbia High School when he saw a TV commercial seeking a teenaged "Our Generation" reporter for WIS News 10. He applied for the job and was hired to cover news from a teen perspective for the local NBC affiliate. "He quickly established himself as someone with exceptional talent," former WIS news director Randy Covington told The Daily Gamecock. "We had a lot of good 'Our Generation' reporters, but Craig, arguably, was the best."

According to Covington, even at that early point in his journalistic career, Melvin's segments were as professional as those of his grown-up colleagues. "So we sort of made an unorthodox decision," he recalled. "We entered this high school journalist's work into the state AP competition." That gamble paid off; in 1996, Melvin won an Associated Press award for a story about his favorite teacher's innovative educational techniques, becoming one of the award's youngest-ever winners.

Looking back, Melvin credits Covington, and the immense faith he placed in an unproven teenager, for the bright future he would go on to experience as a journalist. "Randy rolled the dice on a kid without a journalism degree, whose training at this point was very limited but who was eager and hungry," Melvin said. "I will be forever indebted to him."

After graduating from high school, Craig Melvin was accepted by South Carolina's Wofford College. Given his family's precarious financial situation, however, postsecondary education wasn't a given for him. "I was a scholarship kid," Melvin recalled in an interview with Wofford College. "I had a lot of help going to college. There wasn't a lot of money lying around for college."

Studying government, Melvin maintained his ties with WIS 10, spending his summer vacations working part-time for the station. After he graduated, Melvin's first stop was WIS, where then-news director Randy Covington gave him a job. Eventually, he was promoted to associate producer of the early-morning news broadcast — which meant setting his alarm for 3 a.m. each weekday.

That led Melvin to the biggest career opportunity to date, when he was chosen to co-anchor the WIS evening newscast. "He was the youngest, rawest kid on the air," Charles Bierbauer, Wofford's dean of the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, told The Daily Gamecock. "But he had personality, smarts and the ability to tell a story, which is what television and journalism is all about. I've been able to watch him grow."

Having risen through the ranks so quickly, new WIS 10 news anchor Craig Melvin had much to learn about his new role. He was fortunate that he was able to share the anchor desk with veteran WIS anchor Susan Aude, who became a mentor to him. In addition to co-anchoring the evening news broadcast, he was tasked with being on-air for the 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m. news, and also reported on numerous stories in the field — including a fraught report in which he was smack-dab in the middle of a hostage negotiation in a prison, and another in which he drew attention to the homelessness crisis by living among the homeless for several days.

During this time, Melvin also established some popular regular features. Those included his "School Swap" and "Teacher Swap" segments, in which students and teachers swapped positions at different schools of vastly differing socioeconomic statuses. His work did not go unrecognized. In 2003 and 2005, he was part of the team to win regional Emmy Awards for best newscast. Then, in 2006, he won a regional Emmy as best news anchor in the U.S. Southeast, while the following year he was named South Carolina's best anchor by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association.

"Recognition for your work is always great, but it's even greater when you're recognized for work you enjoy so much," Melvin said after his 2006 Emmy win, as reported by WIS. "Sometimes I feel like pinching myself to make sure this is all real."

In 2008, Craig Melvin left WIS 10 to take a job at a bigger market, serving as weekend anchor for WRC, the NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C. It was during this time that he met another anchor at the station, Lindsay Czarniak. They became friends, but Melvin wanted to take that friendship to the next level. "I need to get to know her," he remembered thinking at the time, Melvin told The Washington Post. Czarniak felt similarly. "That night when we met, there was something that clicked," Czarniak told the newspaper. "It felt like being with the person that really gets you and that you've known for a really, really long time."

The couple announced their engagement in April 2011. Fate, however, intervened the following month when Czarniak — a sports anchor at WRC — received a job offer from ESPN that would take her to Bristol, Connecticut. Just a few weeks later, Melvin was hired by cable news network MSNBC and would be reporting to work in New York City. The newlyweds relocated to Westport, Connecticut, with the two commuting about an hour per day to and from their respective jobs. "It was very stressful because [working at WRC] wasn't just a job, it was a lifestyle and a family for both of us," Czarniak said. "But it's been amazing. Because we are both in similar situations in different places, so that we can both support each other."

Craig Melvin had spent years training as a journalist on the job in local markets, first in South Carolina and then Washington, D.C. That all led to his biggest break yet when he was hired by MSNBC in 2011 as an anchor during the daytime, his first time anchoring to a national audience. His responsibilities also included contributing to NBC News on all its various platforms, including the NBC network itself. "I'm most excited about the prospect of anchoring breaking news, live events, and interviewing news makers on a daily basis," he told AdWeek. "Additionally, I'll be able to get from behind the desk from time to time and cover big stories from the front lines. I'm thrilled about the new opportunity."

During his tenure at MSNBC, Melvin covered some big stories. These included the horrific Sandy Hook School shooting, both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, the Asiana Airlines 2014 crash, the George Zimmerman trial, a catastrophic tornado in Oklahoma, and more.

He was also part of the broadcast team sent to Brazil in 2016 to cover the summer Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro. For Melvin, that coverage included interviewing then-Secretary of State John Kerry, who was on hand to attend the opening ceremony. Melvin also made news when he interviewed gold medalist swimmer Ryan Lochte after the revelation that he and other members of the swimming team had faked their claims of being robbed.

Just a few years after their wedding, Craig Melvin and wife Lindsay Czarniak started a family. In 2014, the couple welcomed their first child, a son they named Delano. They expanded their family in 2016 with the arrival of a daughter, Sybil "Sibby" Ann.

Becoming a father left him fundamentally changed, but also presented a challenge as he figured out how to juggle his demanding job with his parental responsibilities. During an appearance on Southern Living's "Biscuits & Jam" podcast, Melvin explained why he decided to focus on the quality of the time he spent with his kids, rather than the quantity. "So when I am there, I'm not just physically present, I am emotionally present," he said. "I try to make sure my children know that. I've also blocked out certain days and activities where, unless something terrible is happening in the world, I'm there."

So serious is Melvin about the time he spends with his family, his colleagues have come to realize that he's essentially off the grid during those times. "And people who work with me, they know that no matter what that's — I call it dead time," he said. "I'm unreachable and untouchable."

It's no secret that the public has an insatiable appetite for true crime — just ask veteran "Dateline" host Keith Morrison, who's guided viewers through countless gruesome murders since the show's debut in 1992. As a member of the NBC team, Craig Melvin was tapped to anchor a spinoff series, "Dateline: Secrets Uncovered," which premiered in 2017. While the show essentially repackaged stories from previously aired episodes, Melvin provided new commentary to introduce the segments.

Speaking with NBC 10 Philadelphia, Melvin addressed the soaring popularity of the true crime genre, pointing out the cred that "Dateline" had established. "We were the originals," Melvin declared. He also mused about why true crime had hit such a nerve with viewers and offered his theory. "I think that a lot of folks who watch 'Dateline,' myself included, you become an armchair detective," he said. "From the very first few seconds that the show is on, you start to think like, 'How'd they do it?' Or, 'Who did it?'  ... You are sucked in immediately. I think that's one of the reasons that the show itself has resonated with so many for so long."

While Craig Melvin's professional life soared, he experienced some tragic news in his personal life when his brother, Reverend Dr. Lawrence Melvin, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in 2016. That diagnosis led both brothers to become active in the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, an organization that raises awareness of colon cancer, in addition to raising money for research.

Sadly, Lawrence died in 2020 at the age of 43, and Craig believed that his brother may still be alive had he not shrugged off early warning signs. "There were abdominal pains, there was blood in the stool, there was weight loss that he just dismissed as other things," Craig observed in an interview with People, noting that symptoms such as those only become obvious when the cancer has spread and that early detection is key. "We know that this is one of those cancers where if it's discovered early enough, you get the colonoscopy, they see something, boom, they take it out right there," he added. "The problems arise when you let it go unchecked for not months, but years."

Despite the obvious pain he experienced losing his brother, Craig was determined to carry on his work with the alliance — to both honor his brother's memory and to prevent the disease from claiming others. "I've always thought that when terrible things happen to you — and terrible things happen to all of us at some point — I think that we're all obligated to take the terrible things and turn them into something positive," Craig explained.

As Craig Melvin's star ascended at MSNBC, head honchos at NBC News had been keeping their collective eyes on him. His visibility increased when he began making appearances on "Today" as a fill-in for vacationing anchors, and he was eventually hired to host the Saturday edition of "Today." In 2018, he announced he would be stepping away from his Saturday slot. "For the better part of the past year, I have been pulling triple duty here at NBC News," told viewers, via Deadline. "It's a lot for anyone, even someone who loves what he does as much as I do."

While Melvin didn't get into specifics about what he would be doing next, his announcement created buzz that he was being groomed for a permanent position on the flagship weekday edition. Those rumors proved to be true when "Today" anchors Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie announced on the air that Melvin would be joining them each weekday. "I'm excited about this," said Melvin, who was sitting alongside them.

When the "Today" hour hosted by former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly was cancelled following her controversial Blackface comments, Melvin, Kotb, and veteran "Today" weather guy Al Roker took over her hour — and her studio. Meanwhile, reports maintained that Melvin's ascension was directly related to the disturbing fall of longtime "Today" anchor Matt Lauer, which unfortunately reflected the shady side of "Today" and left a massive hole for an anchor to fill. "The network is really high on him right now: He's smart, charming, handsome and, perhaps most importantly, a family man," a source told Page Six, placing emphasis on those final two words to emphasize his difference from Lauer.

More tumult engulfed the popular morning show in late 2024 when beloved "Today" anchor Hoda Kotb — who's had quite the transformation herself – announced she was exiting the show. Her final day, she revealed on the air, would be January 10, 2025. At the same time, she also announced that Craig Melvin would be her replacement as full-time co-anchor. Melvin responded with his trademark humility. "I want to, obviously, thank NBC and the folks here who deemed me worthy," said Melvin. "I've enjoyed just a lifetime of blessings, and this is the latest in a long line of blessings."

Melvin's first day sitting in Kotb's anchor chair proved to be even more emotional for him that he'd expected. That was because his wife, Lindsay Czarniak paid him a surprise visit in the studio, accompanied by their two children. Understandably, Melvin was beyond shocked to see his family in the studio. "When I left this morning, you guys were all in bed!" Melvin blurted out during the broadcast. "We faked it," Czarniak replied with a laugh.

That said, Melvin's new gig brought about a big adjustment to his morning routine, forcing him to wake up a half-hour earlier than he had been previously. "I'll be leaving the house at 4:30 a.m. now, so I'll be up at 3:45 a.m.," Melvin told NBCUniversal. "Now that I'm saying that out loud it sounds ridiculous!"