Willie Geist to Co-Host Third Hour of \'Today\'

September 24, 2012, 3:12 pm

By BRIAN STELTER

Willie Geist, a co-host of the rollicking MSNBC morning show “Morning Joe,” is moving over to NBC's flagship “Today” show as a co-host of the franchise's 9 a.m. hour.

The promotion is expected to be announced by NBC this week, according to people who described it on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by the network to comment.

Along with the 9 a.m. co-hosting gig, Mr. Geist will be a backup for Matt Lauer, the longtime host of the 7 to 9 a.m. hours of “Today,” a profit center for NBC.

Earlier this year, Mr. Lauer renewed his deal with NBC, but because he has co-hosted for 15 years, there has been speculation in the TV industry about who could one day succeed him. Mr. Geist is one possibility, but so are a number of other men at NBC.

Mr. Geist will retain a role on “Morning Joe,” likely during the 6 a.m. hour, according to the people with knowledge of his new deal. He will stop hosting “Way Too Early,” the 5:30 a.m. newscast that has preceded “Morning Joe” for the last few years.

Mr. Geist's existing contract was set to expire at the end of the month. There was talk about his possibly jumping to the lower-rated morning shows on CBS or CNN. But he decided to stay within NBC, where he was hired seven years ago to produce Tucker Carlson's MSNBC talk show. Mr. Carlson frequently put him on the show, restarting a television career that had sputtered out at CNN years earlier.

Joe Scarborough, the inventor of “Morning Joe,” picked Mr. Geist to be a regular on the morning show he pitched to MSNBC executives in 2007. “One of MSNBC's rising stars, Willie will bring attitude and fun to the set of ‘Morning Joe,'” Mr. Scarborough wrote in the pitch.

Initially a sidekick of sorts on “Morning Joe,” Mr. Geist morphed into the straight man at the table of opinionated hosts and guests. He began filling in for Mr. Lauer and other members of the “Today” show cast in 2010.

As a 9 a.m. co-host, Mr. Geist will join Natalie Morales, Al Roker and his friend Savannah Guthrie, who replaced Ann Curry as the 7 to 9 a.m. co-host in July. Ms. Guthrie previously held the 9 a.m. co-host job that Mr. Geist will now hold.