Craig Melvin to replace Hoda Kotb on ‘The Today Show’

NBC News anchor and broadcast journalist Craig Melvin will replace longtime morning TV staple Hoda Kotb on The Today Show, as announced Thursday morning on the air.

Melvin, 45, a 14-year NBC veteran, will co-anchor the television program alongside Savannah Guthrie after Kotb — who earlier this year announced her departure from the series — exits her permanent post on Jan. 10.

Following 60-year-old Kotb’s exit, Melvin will co-host the show with Guthrie for the 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. hours, beginning Jan. 13.

“I am beyond excited and grateful. I’ve had a lot of conversations yesterday with a lot of people who mean a lot to me. I want to thank NBC and the folks who deemed me worthy, but I’ve got to start by thanking the man upstairs, the Lord above and his son, Jesus. I’ve enjoyed just a lifetime of blessings and this is the latest in a long line of blessings,” Melvin said amid the emotional on-air announcement, with Kotb giving him her blessing by telling her colleague that he was “literally made for this job” and that he has “all the things that this job needs.”

In addition to his experience as a broadcast journalist, Melvin has co-anchored the weekend edition of Today and currently co-hosts the third hour of the Today show, in addition to news-anchoring earlier broadcasts of the show.

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Other changes heading to the Today programming block include a slight rebrand of Today‘s fourth hour, which is currently co-hosted by Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager. The show will be known as Today with Jenna & Friends beginning Jan. 13. Until a new cohost is found, the show will welcome a rotating cast of personalities to helm the show with Bush Hager.

In September, Kotb tearfully addressed exiting her post in a candid segment on Today, shortly after she released a statement confirming that she’d step down from the show to spend more time with her family.

“As I write this, my heart is all over the map,” she wrote in a letter to the show’s staff. “I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one. And you all are the reason why. They say two things can be right at the same time, and I’m feeling that so deeply right now. I love you and it’s time for me to leave the show.”

Today airs weekday mornings on NBC. Watch Kotb and Melvin discuss the latter’s takeover in the clip above.