Home is, as they say, where the heart it. It isn’t always where you’re from, or where you were born, it’s the place where your heart and soul find its rhythm. Though Tom Llamas technically grew up in Florida, his familial ties, time spent at Loyola University and his wife’s upbringing make New Orleans a true part of the journalist’s soul. He’s celebrated the city’s highs and lows right alongside its people and now we’re celebrating a “local” boy done good as he takes the prestigious spot of anchor and managing editor of the NBC “Nightly News” — a position held only by him and three other people in the last 40 years. Llamas came to the city ahead of his big career jump to chat about the city, his life and how Loyola helped shape the journalist he is today.
Q: You recently got a big promotion — one that will put you with the likes of Tom Brokaw and Lester Holt.People grew up watching these journalists on the news, and now that’s going to be you. How does that feel?
It’s totally strange. It’s like, every day, it’s unbelievable. I can’t believe it. There’s been so few people who have had that position. And “Nightly News” is something that people watch every day of the week. It’s something they trust. They grow up on, and they rely so much of their lives on it. So, there’s a huge responsibility. I came from a family where we watched a lot of news, so growing up we were an NBC family in Miami, where I’m from. It was Channel 6, and we watched news in English and Spanish, because my parents were Cuban. So, we’d watch news in English see what’s happening locally. My parents were very concerned about what was happening in Cuba since I can remember and we would also watch Spanish language news, because sometimes it’d be more in depth. We always grew up watching the “Today Show,” and watch “Nightly News,” and to now kind of reach that pinnacle. It is unbelievable. It’s a “pinch me” moment. You know, when I was talking to my parents and my brother and everybody else about it, everyone’s in tears, because it’s just…it’s just one of those things you can’t believe.
Q: Not only are you taking on the role of anchor of the “Nightly News,” but also managing editor. What does that mean?
Basically, managing editor lets the viewers know that I’m going to have a hand in the show. I’m not just going to go up there and read prompter. Lester [Holt’s} never done that. Nobody who’s ever been in that chair has just read the prompter. Heavily involved in the show, heavily involved in story selection, heavily involved in sort of the way we program the show. And in my role. I want viewers to know that I’m going have my fingerprints all over the newscast. I care about every second of that of that show. It’s 30 minutes, but every second is important because you’re dealing with the biggest stories of the day. You’re dealing with news that people need to know immediately. Now people are just getting inundated with text messages, news, blogs, texts from friends. “Did you hear this?” And at the end of the day, we want to make sure we have the information right. We have the story that you need to know, the truth. And if there’s anything you missed, we’re going to hit you with that too. Yeah, and then on top of that, but wait, there’s more we’re going to do. I’m going to do an hour of my streaming show, which is called “Top Story,” and it’s on NBC News Now, and that’s it’s 50 minutes of content, which is a lot, so it’s almost like three versions of “Nightly News.” So that’ll be its own show, but I will be anchoring 90 minutes straight. And the reason why we wanted to do that was because when I launched that streaming show, I realized people were watching us on streaming that were not watching “Nightly News,” and there’s people watching “Nightly News” that aren’t going to watch streaming. NBC News Now is a free news service. If you have Wi-Fi, you can get a newscast. It’s the best of NBC News. We have so many great people, and so I didn’t want to leave that, because I feel that’s the future. I think in this day and age, you’ve got to be where the viewers are. People are consuming news everywhere. People are getting news everywhere, and so we want to make sure that we’re there.
Q: You started as an intern for Telemundo at 15 years old. What would 15 year old you think of you and your position now?
What a good question. Uh, 15-year-old me probably be happy that I had a driver’s license and a credit card. But honestly, you know, when you’re that age in my whole life, throughout my entire career, and anybody who’s mentored me or worked with me, it’s like, I always wanted to do more. “Oh, yeah, but let me try that. I’ll do this. I’ll stick around a couple hours. Let me try that.” And so, I think he’d be freaked out. There were many points in my career where I just wanted to be a good reporter. I just want to be a good producer. I just wanted to produce a segment. I just wanted to book a guest, you know, like, I can remember all those events. I just wanted to have the headset on in the control room. I can remember all those moments. And yeah, there was moments where I never thought I could do this. And then there was that moment where I thought, “You know what? I think I could do this, and I think I could be really good at this.” But again, you’ve got to be in it for a while to go, to go through those steps.
Q: You went to Loyola, your wife and her family are from here and you even have familial ties to the New Orleans. Did any of that help your trajectory?
It has. I came to Loyola for a few reasons. One, they have, and back then, they had an amazing broadcast journalism program. A lot of just amazing history having the first TV station here, radio station, incredible recording facilities for the musicians that study there. But they had a set, and they had a newscast. When I was going through the school, they had incredible teachers, teachers who were working in the New Orleans media industry, people who had been through it, and who had very high standards. Loyola really prepared me when I got hired out of school for a brutal overnight shift, making no money. But it’s all good. It’s like happens to everybody, all right. But one of the reasons why I did, sort of like move up, is because I had all these skills I learned at Loyola. You had to edit and you had to write and you had to produce, and that was stuff I got at Loyola. So definitely, I was ready right out of college, more than other people were. But I’ve come back to New Orleans so much for news events, you know, sometimes sad, sometimes not so sad. But I’ve been here for several hurricanes. I was just here for the unfortunate terror attack. Every major sporting event like happens here, whether it be College National Championships, Super Bowls, which turn into major news events. I know New Orleans inside and out. I always say, like, as a good reporter, you must be one phone call away from the story. Like a good reporter, just with one call, you can kind of get the story. And here it’s like, I got calls coming to me.
