Brian Williams: NBC's Anchor Debuts The Stylish "Rock Center"

Brian Williams likes to think ahead.  Way ahead.

He tells a story from the past to illustrate that point.

"Ten o'clock Eastern Time the night the situation in Cairo went to hell, Richard Engel and I are on a hotel balcony trying to stay back from the railing as to not get hit by ricochets while this gun battle went on below us."

Did his life flash before his eyes?

The answer is no. He did think about future possibilities.

"We were on MSNBC all night," Williams says. "Boy, it would have been great to additionally have a broadcast network platform at 10 o'clock Eastern Time because that's what we were doing."

"For those watching, it made for some incredible television," he says.

Lucky, Williams found a new outlet for these kinds of moments.  His new show "Rock Center with Brian Williams" debuts tonight. He acts as the show's anchor and managing editor. 

The news magazine also features amazing correspondents including journalism legends Ted Koppel, Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer and Ann Curry.

Catch up with the mega-busy Williams on a weekday morning in New York, and he's cool, calm, collected ….and still in planning mode.

"We're not done," he says of the names that will do the reporting on "Rock Center."  "There are still some people on the whiteboard in my head that are out there and who I think could really, really turn some heads."

A STYLISH NEW BROADCAST

"All we've been told is to go do the broadcast we'd like to watch and the broadcast we've always wanted to work on," says Williams of "Rock Center."  

"This is going to be about the stories we air and the people telling them," he says. "In some cases that will be me, but in most cases it's going to be this correspondent."

He says that the format delights him. Tonight's show features a Kate Snow investigation into Chinese women giving birth in the US so their children will be citizens. Richard Engel reports from Syria. Harry Smith reports from a place in the US where almost everyone has a job.

"Obviously, these are friends and coworkers of mine," he says. "At the conclusion of the story they tell, we're going to probably sit around and talk about it. There will be questions that will kind of pop into all our heads as we watch these pieces."

How did they land journalism heavy hitter Koppel?  "You don't get to start something like this more than once or twice in your lifetime. I think Ted was drawn to that," Williams says.

There is an amazing elevator promo advertising the two titans on the same show: Koppel and Williams.

"I don't know why we kind of came up with that on the fly," he says. "It seemed perfectly appropriate.

"We actually realized the day we gathered to have a little fun and shoot those promos the last time I had seen Ted in the flesh he and I had found a way to get into what was then still Saddam Hussein International Airport in Baghdad…probably invasion plus three days."

"I slept on the floor of the Baghdad version of the learn to fly executive aviation terminal under a poster of Saddam Hussein on a cement floor. There were firefights going round all over the airport. Planes were on fire," he recalls. "But when you got to get some rack time you've got to get some rack time."

"And I woke up hearing the distinctive voice standing over me in his battle gear," he says.  "It was the last time I saw Ted before the elevator promo."

"Boy, I'd rather have him with us than against us," Williams says. "What a warrior. What a competitor. What a journalist. That's among the most thrilling developments in the development of this broadcast."

DEBUTING ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT

"There is no benchmark. There's no numbers," he says. "There are no ratings. It's just that we're living in our hour."

Williams says that doing a news magazine presents new challenges.

"I have dealt with a daily deadline all my life in this business," he says. "This is a new discipline and concentration for me."

His new digs are Studio 3B. "This is one of the great studio soundstages in this building. Nightly News will debut from one half of it. One end will be Rock Center," he says.

He says debuting on Halloween Eve has a special kick – literally.

 "We're actually counting on a post-candy euphoria because those of us who are parents know that you send the kids to bed and then go through the bag."

"So, we're kind of counting on people who need a good hour-long sit down to join us," he jokes.

ONE LAST MOMENT

As for his style, Williams appeals to the masses because he is warm, friendly, down-to-earth and has the creed of being there and doing it all as a journalist who doesn't just sit behind the desk. He looks as comfortable in jeans and a jacket as he does in a tux or even a dusty shirt in the middle of the Middle East.

He goes from a war zone to Bruce Springsteen's Jersey farm in a flash, fitting in everywhere.

Williams also has a great sense of humor and has guested on the NBC series "30 Rock."

"Those are what I call the extracurriculars that kind of make life more fun," he says of that experience.

But he can't dwell. Williams had to hang up because he is wanted for his day job.

"I've got to go downstairs to 'Nightly,'" he says.

So many shows, so little time. 

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