WMAL Interview - DYLAN BYERS - 01.04.17

INTERVIEW – DYLAN BYERS – senior reporter for media and politics at CNN.

Can Megyn Kelly succeed at NBC? (CNN/Dylan Byers) — NBC News succeeded in luring Megyn Kelly away from Fox News. Now comes the hard part. While Kelly and NBC celebrated Tuesday’s announcement, executives and insiders at rival networks have been left feeling baffled by the decision to have Kelly host shows in daytime and on Sunday nights — two extremely challenging arenas, both fraught with risk. “I’m jealous of NBC for hiring her because she’s a rock star, but the degree of difficulty here is extremely high,” one executive at another network said. “If she survives the trial by fire of daytime and Sunday nights, the bet is unbelievable. If not, she could end up fading into obscurity.” NBCUniversal News Group chairman Andy Lack announced Tuesday that Kelly would join the network later this year as host of both an hour-long daily daytime news program and a Sunday primetime newsmagazine. The timing of when both shows will premiere, and at exactly what times they will air, is still to be determined. Both daytime and Sunday nights present big challenges for NBC and Kelly. Previous TV news talents who have made the jump to daytime include Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper and Meredith Vieira. All three of their shows were canceled within a few years.