NBC

NBC’s Natalie Morales was talking about the issue of jobs at an Education Nation event at the gleaming New World Center in Miami Beach earlier this week.

It’s fitting as Morales has many of them at NBC.

TVNewser caught up with the “Today” show news anchor in the make-up room just before her panel discussion on preparing graduates for the 21st century workforce.

“As a company we see this as part of a wider initiative,” says Morales of NBC’s Education Nation. “It’s a corporate responsibility to try to give back.”

In recent years, Morales has moved beyond her news persona, taking on roles across the Peacock, whether co-hosting the Miss Universe pageant, or Macy’s July 4th Spectacular, or playing the part of fact-checker on “The Marriage Ref.”

But Morales never strays far from home.

“I have several Rock Center pieces in the works and (the Dateline series) My Kid Would Never Do That, which my kid ended up doing that,” Morales laughed.

The series puts children in a variety of decision-making situations while their parents watch the events unfold via hidden camera.

Morales says the challenge going forward, “is finding new ways to do it. I also don’t want to become the person that everybody recognizes. You have to keep the anonymity otherwise kids will see me and they’re not going to fall for it.”

As for her main job at “Today,” Morales admits, “It’s turbulent waters these days with where the ratings are.”

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Today on mediabistro.com, we ask Lola Ogunnaike, a contributor for the “Today” show and MSNBC, “So What Do You Do?” Ogunnaike talks about her experience as a freelance journalist and former CNN correspondent, as well as how she got into television in the first place:

How would you describe your time on American Morning at CNN?
The hours were absolutely brutal. You hear about people like the Matt Lauers and Katie Courics of the world making astronomical amounts of money — they completely deserve it because waking up at the crack of dawn is no joke. The show would begin at 6 a.m. and end at 9 a.m., which means we often had to be in the building by 4-4:30 a.m. And if you were turning a story for the next day, you essentially work anywhere between 12-15 hours. With that said, it was a thrilling experience and I met some of the funniest and most entertaining people that I’ve ever had the chance to work with. CNN was definitely a blast.

How much would you credit your 2006 suspension from The New York Times for jump-starting your TV career? Read more

Tonight at 10 PM, NBC will air a 20th anniversary retrospective celebrating “Dateline,” the network’s crime and investigation-centric primetime newsmagazine.

On “Today” this morning, three of “Dateline’”s longtime hosts, Jane Pauley, Lester Holt and Ann Curry reflected on their time with the program.

NBCUniversal has formally announced its deal with former ESPN anchor and corespondent Michelle Beadle. Earlier this month we noted that NBC was the likely destination for Beadle, though the exact role was undefined.

Rather than co-host NBCU’s syndicated entertainment news show “Access Hollywood,” Beadle will serve as a correspondent, and will cover all of the major red carpet events. Beadle will also serve as a correspondent for NBC’s big sporting events, including the NFL Kickoff and the horse racing Triple Crown. The NBC Sports Network will also be developing a new show for Beadle.

The agreement is not unlike another recent deal NBCU made with a high-profile talent, albeit on a smaller scale.

“Similar to the agreement with Ryan Seacrest, this is another great example of attracting a talent who can contribute across multiple NBCUniversal platforms,” said Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group in a statement.

More information, after the jump.

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As TVNewser first reported over the weekend, NBC News anchor and correspondent Amy Robach is joining ABC News as a correspondent, based in New York.

“In her new role, Amy will contribute her engaging and  high-impact journalism to all of our broadcasts and platforms,” wrote ABC News president Ben Sherwood in a memo to staff this morning.

Robach, who officially announced her departure on Saturday’s edition of “Weekend Today,” also appeared on this morning’s show to once again say good bye to the “Today” team.

Sherwood’s memo to staff about Robach, after the jump.

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This TVNewser happens to be in Miami for the weekend, just as NBC’s company-wide Education Nation initiative lands in South Florida. Several days of on-air and off-air events will be dedicated to the impact of education among Hispanics. This afternoon, NBC’s Rehema Ellis will moderate a Teacher Town Hall which will air on South Florida’s Telemundo station WSCV. The town hall will also be available as a live web stream beginning at 1pmET at educationnation.com. Also today, Telemundo will broadcast a special education edition of the network’s Sunday public affairs show “Enfoque con Jose Diaz-Balart.”

We’ll catch up with “Today” show news anchor Natalie Morales tomorrow who will be here to moderate a panel discussion Monday night at the New World Center in Miami Beach with several guests including Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

WNBC reporter Katie Tur is now reporting for NBC News in Chicago. Tur is covering the NATO and G8 summit this weekend and reported on the Jennifer Hudson family murder trial earlier this month. An NBC News insider tells us that NBC brass was impressed with Tur’s work for WNBC so she’s going to be contributing to “Today” and “Nightly News”

28-year-old Tur, who briefly dated Keith Olbermann a few years ago, joined WNBC in 2009 from the Weather Channel where she was a digital journalist shooting, editing and reporting her own stories.

Prior to NBC, Tur reported for WPIX-TV and News 12 Brooklyn. Tur’s parents, Marika Gerrard and Bob Tur were helicopter news reporters in Los Angeles. The couple covered the 1992 L.A. riots, capturing the infamous Reginald Denny beating as well as OJ Simpson‘s slow-speed Bronco chase in 1994.

Amy Robach gave a tearful goodbye to the weekend “Today” show this morning. Robach, who has been co-anchor of the Saturday edition since 2007, will also be leaving NBC News at the expiration of her contract, TVNewser has learned.

“I want to thank everybody,” said Robach. “I could not name everyone in the studio right now who has made every Saturday morning, when that alarm clock goes off, worth getting up for.”

“Of course, Lester, you have been an amazing partner,” said Robach to her co-anchor Lester Holt.

Robach, who is married actor Andrew Shue, said through tears, “This has been a family and I’ve been through a lot over the past nine years,” as her daughters and step-son joined her on the couch.

Robach joined “Today” from MSNBC where she had been an anchor for four years. Before that Robach was an anchor at WTTG in Washington, DC.

TVNewser has learned this could be the beginning of more shifts for the weekend edition of “Today” which is overseen by weekday “Today” EP Jim Bell. “Amy is a talented journalist and consummate reporter, and we wish her all the best,” said Bell in a statement to TVNewser.

The show also recently bid farewell to weather anchor Janice Huff on the Sunday edition. Huff continues her duties as chief meteorologist at WNBC. Also, the show’s senior producer Andrea D’Ambrosio is leaving to take a job at “Dr. Oz,” where former “Today” senior producer Amy Chiaro is the co-executive producer.

The changes come as the Saturday edition of “Good Morning America” is making gains on the venerable weekend “Today” show, the Saturday edition of which first went on the air nearly 20 years ago, on August 1, 1992.

As for Robach’s next stop, Holt teased, “We’ll hear about your future in short order.”

> Update: Looks like that next stop is ABC News.

NBC’s “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon has a tin can telephone suspended over his desk, but wouldn’t you know it, he has no clue who is on the end of the darn thing. Turns out it is a respectable TV newsman. A TV Newsman who doesn’t want to be bothered by a comedian yelling into a tin can.

WATCH:

The fourth hour of NBC’s “Today” is much looser than the first three hours, and it isn’t just because of all the wine. Sometimes even bystanders on Rockefeller Plaza or technical snafus can lighten the mood.

To wit: an older, bald gentleman who decided to video-bomb a very serious segment by dancing in the background:

Or perhaps a laughing fit caused by a misplaced mic:

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