Executive producer says NBC's Today show coming to Tampa

(UPDATE: NBC just released news of the show's visit, saying anchor Matt Lauer and weather dude Al Roker are due here Sept. 23, at a location to be determined . . .)

I didn't get to use his comments in my story Saturday about how the GOP is attacking the media, but Today show executive producer Jim Bell was nice enough to hand me a scoop, anyway.

Bell said Friday that NBC's morning show will be heading to Tampa for one day this month, taking the temperature of voters in an important area of the state before the presidential elections. Anchor Matt Lauer will most likely make the trip, probably heading to Tampa during the week of Sept. 22, though Bell hadn't yet totally firmed up plans.

One problem: The show is looking for a good site somewhere in the Tampa Bay area where they can catch an interesting cross-section of people at 7 a.m. Without a major public transportation system hub like New York's Grand Central Station, we don't offer many such spots outside of downtown Tampa.

For the Today show's Bell, this would mark a major trip just a couple of weeks after his crew spent weeks traveling to Beijing for the Olympics, then o Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul for the Republican and Democratic conventions.

"We love this stuff," Bell told me Friday, saying he might tag along with Lauer when he comes to Florida. "The show's always energized by the travel, and this is what we love to do."

Click below for NBC's release:

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   'TODAY' TAKES ON THE BATTLEGROUND STATES

"Today" Travels To Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia and Michigan for Live Broadcasts from Each State

The Four-Day Series Begins Monday, September 22, the Week of the First Presidential Debate

NEW YORK – September 8, 2008 - - Amid one of the most extraordinary and hard-fought presidential campaigns in history, NBC News' "Today" will take the show on the road and broadcast live from crucial "battleground states" where the White House may be lost or won.  Over four straight days, starting Monday, September 22nd, "Today" will zero in on the deep divisions and cultural chasms that have turned these states into hotbeds of political combat. Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Ann Curry and Al Roker will focus on all of the flashpoints, and "Today" will take a battlefield-level look at how the McCain and Obama camps are fighting it out on the ground.
       
America's number-one morning program will kick off "'Today Takes on the Battleground States" live from Philadelphia on Monday, September 22. The show will then travel to Tampa, Florida for Tuesday's broadcast, continuing to Norfolk, Virginia on Wednesday. The series will conclude in Detroit on Thursday, the day before the presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi. 
         
Jim Bell is the executive producer of "Today" (Mon.-Fri., 7-11 a.m.).  Noah Kotch is the senior producer responsible for "'Today' Takes on the Battleground States."

    Members of the media can get more information about NBC Universal and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at www.nbcumv.com.

Comments

[VWolf]

Crowds at 7 a.m.?
Boyette Road and McMullen intersection in East Hillsborough county. This nightmare traffic widening of Boyette will last through 2011... so they have plenty of chances if not this go 'round.

[The Carl]

Mr. Lauer wants his usual table at Bern's. And he refuses to go on the air without his latte in the morning.

[Jim]

This was a while ago, but 'Good Morning America' actually did a show from the St. Pete Pier in 1990. They did an interesting expose on the area including a feature on the completion of the westbound span of the Howard Frankland and the Florida Suncoast Dome. John Wilson, who was with WTSP at the time, highlighted the good and bad things about the Bay Area in 1990.

[Fred]

I think the county jail serves breakfast around that time.

[drinklime]

if only they had completed the town n country town center in time...

[rod]

Maybe they should do a feature on how crappy our public transportation system is.

[Silence Dogood]

If they're looking for a site to "catch an interesting cross-section of people at 7 a.m.",might I suggest the middle of the H/F bridge.