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Early Today

Early Today is the early morning news program on NBC. Christina Brown and Dan Kloeffler rotate as anchors of the program. Kloeffler usually anchors Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, while Brown handles Thursday and Wednesday mornings. Brown joined the program in July 2007 coming from KTNV in Las Vegas as replacement for Milissa Rehberger who returned to her position as prime time news break anchor. It usually airs from 4:30AM-5:00AM in each time zone, though some stations air it later if their news starts after 5:30AM, or before Today if they do not air a local morning newscast at all.

History

It premiered in 1999 as the replacement for NBC News at Sunrise. Originally focusing on business and financial news, the show switched focus to general news in 2004. With this change came a relocation, as the show previously was produced through the facilities of NBC cable network CNBC, but was relocated to the facilities of MSNBC. MSNBC's First Look, which airs at the same time, shares some segments and personnel with Early Today.

The name was also used for another early morning news program produced by NBC News from 1982 to 1983, which featured the cast of NBC's The Today Show at the time--Jane Pauley, Bryant Gumbel, and Willard Scott. This was replaced in 1983 by NBC News at Sunrise.

The current version of Early Today premiered with Amy Robach as anchor - and she was followed in the chair by Natalie Morales, Contessa Brewer, Kristine Johnson, Dan Kloeffler, Melissa Rehberger and - most recently - Christina Brown.

Kristine Johnson's departure

For about the last few years Early Today was anchored by NBC News correspondent Kristine Johnson. At the end of the show from Friday, October 20th, 2006, Elise Finch, the NBC Weather Plus Meteorologist at that time reminded viewers that Johnson was leaving the show, that day, due to her upcoming pregnancy. Johnson said to the viewers, "The 1AM wakeup call is NOT pleasant, and I need to get some sleep for my new baby". At closing theme song, she said (As she usually does), "I'm Kristine Johnson, and this is Early Today, just your first stop of the day, today, on your NBC station", and right before the show cut, she was delivered a present from the show crew.

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International broadcasts

MSNBC and NBC News programming is shown for several hours a day on the 24 hour news network Orbit News in Europe and the Middle East. This includes Early Today and several other shows.