Early Today

The program's logo during its CNBC-produced run.

Early Today premiered on September 9, 1999[1] as a replacement for NBC News at Sunrise, which NBC decided to cancel in April 1999 as part of a major shakeup of the network's daytime and early morning schedules (these changes included the launch of another Today-branded program, the short-lived talk show Later Today, as well as the cancellation of the long-running soap opera Another World).[2] The Early Today title had previously been used for another early morning news program produced by NBC News from 1982 to 1983 (and was replaced by NBC News at Sunrise following its cancellation), which featured the hosts of NBC's Today at the time – Jane Pauley, Bryant Gumbel and Willard Scott.

Originally produced from the former Fort Lee, New Jersey facilities of NBC's sister financial news cable network, CNBC, and focusing on business and financial news (including a modified version of the CNBC Ticker that showed stock prices and weather forecasts for select U.S. cities), the program switched to a general news format in 2004. As part of this reformatting, production of the program was relocated to the Secaucus headquarters of MSNBC. Concurrently, former Saturday Today anchor Amy Robach replaced the program's original anchor Nanette Hansen.

MSNBC's Morning Joe First Look, which airs at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time, is a repurposed version of the network newscast using the weathercasters and segments. Until 2013, the sports segment was produced from the Los Angeles studios of NBC owned-and-operated station KNBC, using either Fred Roggin or Mario Solis as anchors; the segment was recorded after that station's 11:00 p.m. Pacific Time newscast for later airing and to account for most West Coast sports results, but was aired without any differences on both First Look and Early Today (the segment is now conducted live-to-tape during both programs from the newsroom at NBC Studios). Some segments seen on Early Today are excluded from First Look, mainly the local weather cut-in (which does not appear at all on many NBC stations that broadcast Early Today, showing only a list of forecasts for seven randomly selected U.S. cities) and a local event barker featuring a promotion for an NBC affiliate serving the city where the event is being held (which was dropped from the NBC program in 2013), while a small number of stories seen on Early Today may not be seen on First Look.

Some NBC affiliates do not air the entire program, and a purposeful sign-off is made by the show's anchor at the 24-minute mark in order to allow stations to air an early weather segment or start their morning newscast early, while NBC carries a non-essential human interest or light news story to end the telecast for stations that carry the entire program. Since NBC's corporate parent NBCUniversal acquired part-ownership of The Weather Channel in 2008, weather forecasts used on the program incorporate the channel's branding and forecasts, although Early Today uses repurposed graphics systems from the defunct digital multicast weather network NBC Weather Plus, which provided forecasts for the program until it shut down in 2008.

In September 2007, the program, as with the rest of MSNBC's operations, moved from the previous Secaucus, New Jersey headquarters to the network's combined news headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in the New York City borough of Manhattan, with MSNBC, in October 2007. MSNBC's master control facilities were relocated to the CNBC Headquarters at the NBC Universal Network Organization Center in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Until a revamp of the set used for both programs in 2011, the anchor background on Early Today was a video screen of a sunrise scene; a skycam shot of Manhattan was used for First Look.

On June 29, 2009, concurrent with the launch of MSNBC's high definition simulcast feed, Early Today became the first early morning network newscast to begin broadcasting in high definition.

The program had aired live at 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time until March 1, 2010, when the initial broadcast of the show was moved to 4:00 a.m. Eastern to allow stations in the Eastern Time Zone to begin their morning newscasts at 4:30 a.m. with an Early Today lead-out; previously without the new schedule in some cases, the NBC All Night repeat of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon would inexplicably lead into local news with five minutes cut off the former program if the default NBC schedule, in addition to one local half-hour program, was followed by an affiliate in the overnight hours. As of 2019, the show is now offered live as early as 3:00 a.m. Eastern.

Further brand integration with Today came in December 2013, when Early Today introduced a new graphics package based on that used by the network's flagship morning show since August of that year, as well as a modified version of that program's "orange sunrise" logo.[3]

Early Today is the only American early morning network newscast that features both an on-staff meteorologist and sports anchor; anchors of ABC's America This Morning act as weather presenters, and staff from ABC's sister cable network ESPN present sports. The anchor of the CBS Morning News presents both weather and sports.

• Frances Rivera – anchor (2014–2015, 2016–present)
• Phillip Mena – anchor (2017–present)
• Janessa Webb – meteorologist (2021–present)

Anchors

• Nanette Hansen (1999–2004; now working for Sotherby's International Reality in Smithtown, New York)
• Natalie Morales (2004; now with NBC News and Access Hollywood)
• Amy Robach (2004; now with ABC News)
• Contessa Brewer (2004–2005; now with CNBC)
• Kristine Johnson (2005–2006; currently main anchor at WCBS-TV in New York City)
• Bill Fitzgerald (2006–2007)
• Milissa Rehberger (various quarters)
• Dan Kloeffler (2007–2009, now with ABC News)
• Christina Brown (2007–2010)
• Lynn Smith (2010–2012; now with HLN)
• Mara Schiavocampo (2012–2013, now with ABC News)
• Veronica de la Cruz (2011–2014, now with KPIX in San Francisco)
• Betty Nguyen (2012–2016; now with WPIX in New York City)
• Richard Lui – Pacific and Mountain Time anchor (2013–2016)
• Ayman Mohyeldin – Central and Eastern Time co-anchor (2016; now a co-anchor of MSNBC's Morning Joe First Look)

Meteorologists

• Joe Witte (1999–2003; was at NewsChannel 8 in Washington, D.C., now at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland)
• Sean McLaughlin (2004–2005; now at KPHO-TV in Phoenix)
• Rosey Edeh (2004–2005; now at Global Television Network/CIII-DT in Toronto as co-host of The Morning Show)
• Byron Miranda (2007; now at WPIX in New York City)

Business anchor

• Louisa Bojesen (1999–2008, was most recently at CNBC Europe until her departure on April 28, 2017)