


TODAY may be losing Hoda Kotb, but Al Roker isn’t planning on stepping back — well, not yet.
Roker explained to People that when it comes to retirement, “you know when you know,” which he likened to Kotb’s recent announcement and even president Joe Biden‘s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
“It’s like, everybody has a reason that they decide it’s time to go,” he explained.
Although he is aware “that time will come” for him to bid farewell to his post, he told the outlet that time is not now.
“I don’t feel like that’s my time yet, but who knows. Maybe a year or two. Maybe not, but I’m enjoying it. I love this,” he shared. “You don’t get off the train until the last stop.”
Kotb announced her retirement plans on Thursday’s (Sept. 26) episode of TODAY, explaining that she “decided that this is the right time for [her] to kind of move on.”
“I’ve been weighing this decision for quite a while – Am I truly ready?” she wrote in her letter to her Today Show colleagues published by Today.com. “But, my sixtieth birthday celebration on the Plaza felt like a shift. Like a massive, joyful YES, you are! I saw it all so clearly: my broadcast career has been beyond meaningful, a new decade of my life lies ahead, and now my daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie. I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.”

Kotb noted that she will be “working through the beginning of 2025,” but “plan[s] to remain a part of the NBC family.”
Roker also said to People that he’s “just so thrilled for her that [he] can’t possibly feel any sadness.”
“I would feel much worse if she was leaving, but she’s just doing something else within our NBC News family,” he clarified.
TODAY airs on weekdays at 7 a.m. ET on NBC. In the meantime, take a look at DECIDER’s take on who should replace Kotb on Today with Hoda & Jenna.