Curry is ready for the top spot on ‘Today’

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Ann Curry, who has been the news anchor of “Today” since 1997, officially ascends to the top spot alongside host Matt Lauer on Thursday, the day after Meredith Vieira signs off.

How Curry responded when Vieira was brought in over Curry in 2006 to replace Katie Couric as co-host of the top-rated morning TV show likely played a large part in her getting the job this time.

She didn’t leave. She didn’t sulk or back-stab. Curry, 54, instead created a niche for herself with international reporting, often on tough, unpleasant stories that aren’t mainstays at American television networks. She’s been to the troubled region of Darfur in Sudan to report on the humanitarian crisis five times since 2006.

“She channeled that disappointment and did so as the ultimate team player five years ago and in many ways re-created her career at NBC News,” said Steve Capus, NBC News president.

Curry radiates such intense enthusiasm you’d swear it was fake if you didn’t see it repeatedly. She’s not just excited about her new role on Thursday, she says that “every synapse is exploding in my mind.” Viewers buy in; people in the television business say Curry scores very high on personal popularity in audience testing.

She acknowledges she was upset about being passed over when then-NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker, seeking a bigger name for “Today,” personally recruited Vieira from “The View.”

“Sure, I had the sense of ‘I wish I had been asked,’” Curry recalled. “But shortly after that I said to myself, ‘Look how lucky you are. Look at what a great job you have and look how great she is.’ I opened my arms wide and never looked back.”