As his time draws nigh, NBC’s Williams goes campaigning

NEW YORK —  Every week or so, a handful of NBC News executives meets to plot the schedule of a man who usually isn’t in the room.

They’re planning for an epochal event in the world of television news, when Brian Williams takes over for Tom Brokaw on Dec. 2 as the anchor of NBC’s “Nightly News.”

If only it were as simple as switching a nameplate over a door.

It’s been more than 20 years since there’s been a change among the Big Three of network news -- Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather -- and NBC is leaving nothing to chance.

“The goal is simple,” said NBC News President Neal Shapiro. “We want this to be the best, most effective transition in the history of broadcast news.”

He’s had more planning time than most presidential transitions.

NBC announced on May 28, 2002, that Brokaw would step down after fall’s election and be replaced by Williams.

In reality, Williams, 45, has been groomed for the job for a decade, since he was hired from WCBS-TV in New York and installed as Brokaw’s chief sub. For a while, it seemed “heir apparent” was Williams’ new first name.

Williams honed his craft by anchoring a nightly news show on MSNBC and CNBC, before he was reassigned as a nightly news correspondent this winter.

The idea was to make him more visible on the broadcast he would take over, give him more experience reporting big stories and, perhaps most importantly, get him on the road.

“He is running around like a political candidate,” said Steve Capus, “Nightly News” executive producer.

Capus is on the committee that meets regularly, often in Shapiro’s office, to coordinate the mixture of reporting, glad-handing and promotion on Williams’ schedule.

“I’ll remind you that we are a division of General Electric,” Williams said. “They do nothing sloppily.”

Particularly when it comes to a big investment. Evening news ratings are the most commonly used yardstick to measure a network news division’s strength, and NBC has been on top since the mid-’90s. No one knows whether Brokaw’s exit will prompt viewers to change channels to the veterans on ABC or CBS instead of trying the new guy.

No one who has ever taken over one of the big network jobs can claim, like Williams, seven years of experience anchoring a nightly, national news program -- primarily because cable news barely existed the last time one of those jobs became available.

He’s also entering a friendly, familiar environment. Capus used to produce Williams’ cable news show, and his first job in TV in 1986 was as a writer at Philadelphia’s WCAU-TV, where one duty was to take dictation from reporter Brian Williams.

So far this year, Williams has gone on reporting trips to military bases, to see how California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing, to do a story about steel workers in Pittsburgh and cover election news in Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida. He’ll have highly visible roles at the political conventions this summer, and at the Olympics.

He usually couples reporting trips with “campaign” appearances, visiting local affiliates.

A week ago, during visits to Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Williams met with the local news staff, filmed promotions with the local anchors, submitted to newspaper interviews and even, in Seattle, spoke to civic leaders at the local City Club.

“It was a very valuable visit, I thought,” said Rod Gramer, executive news director at Portland’s KGW-TV. “I was very impressed with him.”

Williams has done his share of grunt work at local stations, typing in graphics and assigning stories on the overnight shift. He understands it’s important to get the network’s front-line troops on his side.

“We are seen, by local viewers, as all of a type, all of a family,” Williams said. “They call them news teams at the local level for a reason.”

He’s also met a lot of the people he’s going to broadcast to.

“I feel truly like I know this country better than a lot of folks in my industry,” he said. “I look at this as a great time in my life.”

NBC’s organization in the transition has even drawn some praise where it’s least expected.

“I’m not saying it’s going to work, but I think they’ve done a very good job to make the transition to Williams and bring out what’s best about both of these guys,” said Jim Murphy, executive producer of the “CBS Evening News.”

Shapiro said he’s not particularly concerned about what some people have considered Williams’ weaknesses: that he can be wordy or appear pompous. The news executive looked back at news clips to see how Rather, Jennings and Brokaw were greeted.

“Stuffed shirt was very tame compared to what they said about three distinguished journalists when they were Brian’s age and taking over the shows,” he said.

Former NBC News President Reuven Frank is watching the transition closely. He rates a botched transition involving David Brinkley, Frank McGee and John Chancellor more than 30 years ago as one of his worst executive decisions.

He’s not sure about Williams.

“He needs a stronger identification,” Frank said. “Brian’s problem is he isn’t peculiar enough. There’s nothing unique. He’s very, very good, but I don’t see the ‘x’ factor. Everyone has one and I don’t know what his is.”

Millions of viewers will soon be making their own determinations.

For all the preparations, all the meetings, all the trips and all the handshakes, nothing is guaranteed. It will probably be a year or so before the transition can be judged a success or failure.

“I do what I do and I put it out,” Williams said. “It’s very viewer-driven. It’s a very subjective business, but that’s always been the equation in my professional life in television. This is no different.”