Brian Williams Biography
Summary
"Brian Douglas Williams" (born May 5, 1959) is the American anchor and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News", the 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
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. His first job was as a busboy at Perkins Pancake House (as stated on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Friday 5/22/09). 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 The Catholic University of America and gave the commencement address, received an honorary doctorate as he delivered the keynote address at Providence College's May 19, 2002 commencement, and in 2008 received an honorary Doctor of Journalism degree from The Ohio State University. On June 27, 2008, he delivered the annual Philip J. Murnion Lecture, hosted by the Catholic Common Ground Initiative at Catholic University.
Early career
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 reporter.
Appearances
He frequently appears on "The Daily Show" as a celebrity guest 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 appeared often on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and appeared with President Barack Obama in a clip on the second broadcast of O'Brien's "Tonight Show".
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 with his wife, Jane Williams, in 2009.
Williams hosted the November 3, 2007 episode of "Saturday Night Live", making him the first national news anchor to host the show. 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, an unenthusiastic winner of $15 million, 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".
In an episode of 30 Rock entitled 'The Ones' Brian Williams makes an appearance as the owner of the phone number that Tracy Jordan gives out to the women that he doesn't want to cheat on his wife with.
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 8, 2008.
On June 18, 2008, Williams gave a eulogy at Tim Russert's memorial at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He ended his speech by saying 'our maker' has brought Russert back home.
Williams appeared on episode 4181 of Sesame Street on October 24, 2008 as himself, working as a reporter for "Sesame Street Nightly News", reporting that 'no one is sharing on Sesame Street' and taking part in the show's story.
He had previously appeared in episode 4135 on August 13, 2007 delivering the word of the day.
Williams is a fan of indie rock music and hosts a series on the NBC website called 'BriTunes' where he interviews musicians and features a playlist of some of his favorite current songs. He has featured artists such as Deer Tick and Great Lake Swimmers in the series.
On February 11, 2009, it was announced that Williams would serve on the Nantucket Film Festival Board of Directors.
Along with Bob Costas, he supports the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation where he is an honorary board member.
Notable coverage
TWA Flight 800
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
Funeral of Ronald Reagan
2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
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)
Death of Pope John Paul II
2006 Winter Olympics
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
2006 Lebanon war
Virginia Tech massacre
Troop surge in Iraq
The death of NBC Washington Bureau Chief and "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert.
2008 Summer Olympics
2008 United States Presidential Election
NBC's coverage of the Inauguration of Barack Obama
Independent Music
NBC's Inside The Obama White House
Death of Michael Jackson
Career timeline
1981: KOAM-TV
1982–1984: WTTG-TV correspondent
1985: Panoroma Host
1985–1987: WCAU-TV New Jersey correspondent
1987–1993: WCBS-TV Anchor of weekday noon and weekend night newscasts; reporter
1993–1994: NBC News correspondent
1994–1996: NBC News White House correspondent
1996-2004: "The News with Brian Williams" anchor
2004–present: "NBC Nightly News" anchor
External links
(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)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Brian Williams.
