Tamron Hall leaves NBC ahead of Megyn Kelly’s arrival at ‘Today’

Former Chicago anchor Tamron Hall is the first high-profile NBC News staffer to exit the network in a move related to the recent hiring of Megyn Kelly from the Fox News Channel.

Hall, who co-anchored the Fox Chicago morning show prior to her move to New York, was told she will no longer co-anchor the “Today” show’s third hour once Kelly joins the lineup this fall. With her contract up for renewal, Hall was in negotiations regarding her future in the NBC and MSNBC programming mix, according to Deadline.com, which first reported this news.

In a statement from NBC News, the network said it had hoped she would stay with the network. She also had been anchoring a daily MSNBC program.

“The last 10 years have been beyond anything I could have imagined, and I’m grateful,” Hall said in the NBC statement. “I’m also very excited about the next chapter. To all my great colleagues, I will miss you and I will be rooting for you.”

Her “Today” co-anchor, Al Roker, will remain on the air with other partners until the new lineup debuts this fall.

I worked with Hall from 2000 to 2003 on the Fox 32 News morning show, and even then, she made no secret of her ambition to eventually land in New York and have the opportunity to report and anchor on national broadcasts. She clearly had the skills and ability to make it to the top in the world of broadcast news. Her ambition was fulfilled when NBC brought her on in 2007.

Given her award-winning national broadcast track record, Hall appears likely to continue on a similar professional path, once she is free to move on to another network or cable news position.