TODAY Show hosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie are celebrating a major career honor. The two were inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. the announcement came during a live telecast, with Al Roker and co giving their beloved coworkers major kudos. “It was a really special occasion. The two of them were just terrific in their acceptance speeches,” Roker noted. Another co-host chimed in to praise the two women’s grace. “The humbleness, the humility they showed on the stage and Hoda talking about how we always feel that we’re not worthy and Savannah talking about her first day in news,” she recalled.
Kotb and Guthrie began working as co-anchors on TODAY in 2018 following Kathie Lee Gibson’s departure. During her acceptance speech, Kotb reflected on how far she’s come in her career and personally. “We need to know our worth,” Hoda told women in the audience. “And when I speak about not knowing your worth, I’m kind of speaking to myself, too. I’ve spent a lot of my career thinking I didn’t deserve all the things I got, even after I worked so hard. I didn’t think I deserve to work at ‘Dateline’ or sit with Kathie Lee, and certainly not the TODAY show.”
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She spoke lovingly about working alongside Guthrie and forming a sisterhood both on and off-camera. “And I didn’t even know if I deserved to have a family of my own,” she added. “And then this cool friend of mine, this great friend of mine gave me some great advice. You might know her. She’s right there. Her name is Savannah Guthrie. She said this: If you have a wish, or if you have a hope, or if you have a dream, say it out loud.”
Guthrie spoke about her career ups and downs, admitting she never imagined making it this far. “I enthusiastically started my job at this tiny station with a newsroom staff of four [in Butte, Montana] including me,” she said. “Right away, I was shooting and reporting and editing. I was doing it. I was Butte, Montana’s Diane Sawyer, for 10 days. That is when the management called the meeting and closed the station. My TV career was over and I hadn’t even lasted two weeks. That was my big break. And it was gone.”
She also spoke about how the industry is built to tear you down once one reaches a certain height. With that in mind, it’s been important for her to have a life outside of work, but she remains passionate about her work. “This is a funny business. It’s just like that. You’re soaring one minute, you are crushed the next,” she said. “It thrills you and it challenges you and sometimes it breaks your confidence and sometimes it breaks your heart. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
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NEW YORK CITY – DECEMBER 19: "Toil and Trouble" – Elsbeth is thrown into the world of television after the showrunner of a long-running police procedural is brutally murdered in his office, and although it appears to be the act of a disgruntled fan, she begins to suspect the show's longtime star Regina Coburn (Laurie Metcalf) who yearns for artistic fulfillment. Meanwhile, Judge Crawford (Michael Emerson) continues to be a thorn in Elsbeth's side, on the CBS original series ELSBETH, Thursday, Dec. 19 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs). Pictured (L-R): Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni and Carra Patterson as Kaya Blanke. (Photo by Michael Parmelee/CBS via Getty Images)
