Sheinelle Jones is taking the chair next to Jenna Bush Hager on the fourth hour of “Today,” the NBC News program announced Tuesday.
The brand extension of the NBC News morning franchise, which airs daily at 10 a.m., will be renamed “Today with Jenna & Sheinelle” on Jan. 12. Hager has handled the hour alongside guest hosts since Hoda Kotb left “Today” in January.
Jones, 47, will step back from her duties on the program’s third hour which will continue with Craig Melvin, Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer.
The Kansas native was on a leave from “Today” for much of this year due to the death of her husband Uche Ojay, who suffered glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. She returned to the program in September.
Jones, a mother of three, has been a fixture on “Today” since 2014. She joined the program as a co-anchor for the Saturday edition after nine years as a local morning TV anchor in for the Fox station in Philadelphia. She became a co-host for the third hour in 2019.
The fourth hour of “Today” is a breezy, daytime talk show with advice and celebrity conversation. NBC News launched the hour in 2007 with Ann Curry, Natalie Morales and Kotb as co-hosts..
The program gained a cult following when it was co-hosted by Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford, and evolved into a wine mom gathering. Gifford left the program in 2019 and was succeeded by Hager.
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