As the Fred Silverman saga unfolded at the corporate level last week, a play-within-a-play held the stage at NBC News. The theme was strikingly similar: Will he stay or will he go? The protagonist: boyish Tom Brokaw, 41, for five years the button-bright host of the Today show.
Months ago, as Brokaw approached the renewal date of his contract, he began giving his NBC bosses the jitters by holding earnest discussions with rival networks CBS and ABC. NBC, lagging in third place in the superheated evening-news ratings race, could ill afford to lose an asset like Brokaw. Just how far...
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