Top Story With Tom Llamas, premiering Mon., Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. ET on the NBC News Now platform, will be the streaming network’s first daily, primetime program—which means, if you don’t get a chance to watch during its original airtime each weeknight, it’ll be ready and waiting for you on all your favorite streamers, including Peacock, The Roku Channel, YouTube TV, YouTube, Fubo, Xumo, Pluto and Tubi, plus NBC News’ apps on Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV. Not only is TopStory reinventing where, when and how viewers get their daily news fix, but Llamas is determined to make sure the new streaming series also redefines why they’ll want to tun in. To find out what that’ll entail, Parade.com recently checked in with the 42-year-old anchor to get the scoop on how he’s expanding what a news show can look like and what you can expect from TopStory With Tom Llamas.
If you’re a news junkie in 2021, there’s no shortage of programming to choose from. What will you try to do differently on your new series?
How I like to explain it is, I want this show to be your perfect news playlist: Every night, here are the most important stories that you need to know, but also, here are the stories that you didn’t even know were happening. We’re going to be launching our own stories and our own investigation and enterprise pieces, but we’re also going to grab the best of NBC News—the nightly news, TODAY, CNBC, MSNBC, Sky News, Telemundo—and put it into an hour. That’s what my goal is for this show. I want our viewers to think, “I sat down for an hour and I feel like I’m fully informed, maybe I’m a little inspired”—you know, like maybe they saw something that touched them in the show. To create story stories that really touch people, that’s another goal. We’re going to give the viewers a lot of stories, but we’re also going to expose them to stories that may not be on their news radar. For example, we’re gonna have a segment every single night called “The Americas” where we’re going to report from somewhere in Latin America, telling a story from Latin America while working with our partners at Telemundo to cover issues that affect Hispanic Americans.
A streaming news show is still a relatively new phenomenon. How do you see streaming as possibly changing the news landscape?
We always hope people will watch our live broadcast, which will be at 7 p.m. Eastern—but this is a new world where you can watch or read whatever you want on demand, so I want to be able to give people my show on demand as well. It’ll be there when you want it; that’s what streaming offers, not only a convenient way to get your news—and, I should say, a free way to get your news—but you also can watch it on demand. My other hope is that people talk about this the way they talk and share about other streaming media. Like, “Oh, have you seen this show? Have you seen Tiger King? Have you seen the Bulls/Jordan documentary?” I want that for our show, you know? I want that to happen organically, that grassroots thing where people are like, “There’s the new show, it’s incredible, you gotta watch it.” Our first team meeting, we went around and asked everybody, “What are you watching? What are you reading? How do you get your news?” One show that kept coming up again and again was WhiteLotus and a crazy debate happened; half the team loved the show, the other half didn’t. So I want to do a segment on it!
Tell us more about “The Americas.” What stories will you be covering in that segment? I’m also curious about why you chose that title.
We did a story on El Salvador now using Bitcoin as legal tender. We’re doing immigration—not only what’s happening at our border, but where people are coming in through and telling why they’re coming here. Barbie is releasing—I can’t tell you how pumped I am about this story—Barbie is releasing a Celia Cruz doll for Hispanic Heritage Month. Me and my wife, when we first started dating, we saw her at Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and also, as a Cuban-American, I grew up with her; she was iconic. The idea for The Americas, the reason why it’s called that is because, in reality, we’re all linked, right? Whether North America or Central America or South America or the Caribbean. So the Americas is our backyard, it’s our neighbors, the people who live next door to you and the people who live across the border from you. I think more reporting needs to be done so we understand the region more, but also, we understand each other more.
Hispanic Heritage Month recently kicked off, as you noted. As a child of Cuban immigrants, how has your up-close knowledge of immigrant experiences informed your reporting?
It’s never taking this opportunity for granted, right? I’m standing on the shoulders of so many great journalists like Teresa Rodriguez, but also, it’s not lost on me that there aren’t a lot of people who have the same kind of last name as me and look like me. There’s not a lot of Latino network news anchors, so there’s a responsibility there.
You joined NBC not even six months ago and you’re already shooting through the ranks! With so many people switching workplaces and careers today, I have to ask what your best advice is for making a great first impression at a new job.
I mean, I’ve worked [at NBC] before, so I know a lot of people there so the transition wasn’t quite so big… But I would say, just say yes. What that does is, it shows people that you’re willing to work, you’re willing to take on more responsibility. And if they’re asking you to take on a new project, you’re gonna learn something along the way. The second thing–and maybe even more important—would be: If you don’t ask for it, you don’t get it! Next, What NBC News Anchor Vicky Nguyen Wants You to Understand About the Experience of Asian Americans In the US Right Now
