• PBS host Tavis Smiley celebrates his 2,000th show tomorrow. Smiley’s diverse guest list, from musicians to presidents, authors, actors, and activists, will be highlighted in a clip reel. Smiley’s show premiered on PBS in 2004.

• This Memorial Day Weekend CBS’s Steve Kroft, a Vietnam veteran, will host “Combat Stress: Finding the Way Home” on CBS Radio News. The one hour show explores the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on our nation’s veterans.
• Ann Curry anchored her first newscast for NBC News in 11 months. The former “Today” co-host was filling in for Brian Williams this evening on “Nightly News.” She posted this image (above) to Instagram about 15 minutes before the show.

Bob Schieffer, a 44-year CBS News veteran and current moderator of “Face the Nation,” will be the 2013 recipient of the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.

“Walter Cronkite is who I wanted to be when I was a young reporter,” Schieffer said. “He is who I still want to be so winning an award with Walter’s name on it means as much to me as any recognition I have ever received.”

With 56 years of reporting experience, Schieffer is the most experienced broadcast reporter in Washington. He’s been CBS’ chief Washington correspondent since 1982 and moderator of “Face the Nation” since 1991.

Schieffer will accept the 30th annual award, given by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU, at a luncheon in October in Phoenix.

Previous Cronkite Award recipients include Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer and Tom Brokaw.

Soledad O’Brien has been tapped as the new moderator of the National Geographic Bee, TVNewser has learned. An announcement is expected Wednesday morning.

O’Brien will take over moderating duties from Alex Trebek who has hosted the Bee for 25 years.

The contest, which uses materials from the National Geographic Society, is designed to increase public awareness about world geography. Trebek is hosting the 25th annual event this week. The finals are set for Thursday night and will air on PBS at a later date. O’Brien takes over for the 2014 edition and her Starfish Media Group will produce the event in which thousands of schools compete for scholarship money.

O’Brien has another connection to Trebek. She was a guest on Celebrity Jeopardy! in 2009 competing against Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Michael McKean.

Trebek has said he will also leave Jeopardy! after the 2015-16 season. Notable TV news names who’ve been floated as possible replacements include Brian Williams, Matt Lauer and Anderson Cooper.

The broadcast networks are planning to give their news organizations extra space tonight to update viewers on the aftermath of the devastating tornado that ripped through a suburb of Oklahoma City. In addition to expanded evening newscasts, NBC and ABC will have dedicated programming to coverage of the devastation and recovery.

NBC: NBC News will have a special from 8-9 PM live from Oklahoma, anchored by Brian Williams. Lester Holt, Ann Curry, Harry Smith and Kate Snow will be among the contributors. “NBC Nightly News” will also offer an hour-long newscast to affiliates this evening.

CBS: CBS News will not have a primetime special, however Scott Pelley will host a special edition of the “CBS Evening News” from 6:30 PM until 8 PM, offered to affiliates.

ABC: ABC News will be offering a one hour edition of “ABC World News” to affiliates. Diane Sawyer will be in New York, with David Muir in Moore. In addition at 12:35 AM “Nightline” will be special edition dedicated to Oklahoma.

Also: Muir, Ginger Zee and Mike Boettcher will reportfrom Oklahoma this afternoon on “Katie.”

The “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” was the only evening newscast to grow compared to the same week last year. The 3rd ranked show was up +5% in total viewers cutting the gap with #2 “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” nearly in half. Last year the viewership gap between the two shows was 1.65 million. Last week it was 881,000.

Sawyer’s newscast was down -7% in viewers and down -9% in the demo. No. 1 “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” was flat in viewership and down -6% in the demo. Pelley’s broadcast, too, was down in the demo, losing 2% of its audience compared to last year.

Numbers for the week of May 13, 2013:

President Obama is scheduled to comment on the disaster in Oklahoma at 10 AM and it is likely that all of the broadcast networks will break into regular programming to cover it.  ”CBS This Morning” went into the 9 AM hour to cover the fallout. We hear that “CTM” will stay live until 12 PM on the east coast covering the damage, and 10 AM pacific.

Update: “Our prayers are with the people of Oklahoma today,” Obama said. “Oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away.”

“If there is hope to hold onto, not just in Oklahoma but around the country, it is the knowledge that the good people there in Oklahoma are more prepared than most, and what they can be certain about is that Americans around the country will be right there with them,” he added.

Meanwhile, the news channels are sending their A-teams to Oklahoma to cover the fallout from the tornado.

As we noted yesterday, NBC has Brian Williams,  Lester Holt, Ann Curry, Harry Smith, Kate Snow, Anne Thompson and Dr. Nancy Snyderman in Oklahoma, as well as the Weather Channel team of Jim Cantore, Mike Bettes, and Mike Seidel.

ABC News has Sam Champion, Ginger Zee, David Muir and Alex Perez in Oklahoma. Byron Pitts, Mike Boettcher, and Cecilia Vega are also either in Moore or en route.

CBS has Norah O’Donnell anchoring from Moore, and Anna Werner on the ground, and Scott Pelley will anchor the “CBS Evening News” there this evening.
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While still trailing in the evening news race, the “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley” continues to show the most growth in viewership: up +12% compared to the same week last year. At the same time, it’s the only evening broadcast to shed viewers in the ad-friendly A25-54 demo, down -2% compared to last year. “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” extends its winning streak among total viewers to 191 weeks and among younger viewers to 233 weeks. “Nightly” is up year-over-year in both total viewers (+3%) and younger viewers (+4%). “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” is up in total viewers (+1%) and flat in the demo.

Numbers for the week of May 6, 2013:

Breaking: “Rock Center with Brian Williams” will finish its current run on June 21, then shut down production.

“While we’re disappointed with the news, we are very proud of the hard work that the ‘Rock Center’ team put into the program each week,” NBC News Group chief Pat Fili-Krushel wrote in a note to staff this afternoon. “Rock Center” was given a 3-year commitment when it launched in the Fall of 2011. When it comes to a close, it will have run for 20 months.

The show never caught on with viewers and was moved five times on the NBC schedule in its first year alone.

“I would like to thank Brian, Alex, David and the entire “Rock Center” team for their efforts. The show will be missed,” writes Fili-Krushel.

There’s no word on the fate of the correspondents and staff of “Rock Center” or whether layoffs will be necessary. Some staffers will likely be offered positions in other areas of the NBC News Group.

Full note, after the jump…

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Photo: NBC News

TVNewser hears that the interview has been on the schedule for some time, before news of the surgery was revealed by the New York Post this morning. The full interview–which will highlight the rebuilding of the Jersey Shore–will air next week on “Rock Center.”

Christie has been pretty close with the team from MSNBC and NBC News recently, with a number of appearances on programs for both the cable channel and broadcast network.

He appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” last Monday, and will be the guest co-host of the 8 AM hour of “Today” on may 24, live from the Jersey Shore.

Several television news journalists have landed on Reader’s Digest list of “The 100 Most Trusted People in America.” At #12, “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts is the most-trusted television news personality on the list.

In addition to Roberts, the morning shows are well represented: “GMA” anchor George Stephanopoulos is #57, while “Today” show co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer are #85 and #97, respectively.

The three evening news anchors make the list –ABC’s Diane Sawyer at #25, NBC’s Brian Williams at #29 and CBS’ Scott Pelley at #63. ABC’s Barbara Walters (#34), Katie Couric (#37) and Christiane Amanpour (#56) are also among the most trusted.

From the cable news landscape, CNN’s Sanjay Gupta is #17 and  Anderson Cooper is #50. HLN’s Dr. Drew Pinsky is #90 and Fox News anchor Shepard Smith rounds out the list at #100.