‘Nightly’ and ‘Top Story’ move to refreshed Studio 3A with graphics updates

“NBC Nightly News” and “Top Story” moved back into the main 30 Rockefeller Plaza tower, marking their first return to the building since 2021.

The broadcasts began originating from the east side of Studio 3A again Monday, May 18, 2026, taking over a space originally designed for MSNBC, now MS NOW, and then turned over to NBC News Now after the Comcast-Versant spinoff.

“Nightly” relocated to Studio 1A across the street in 10 Rockefeller Center back in 2021, sharing the space with “Today.”

With the shift came some changes in how the broadcast is shot in addition to updates to on-set video wall graphics.

To start, anchor Tom Llamas no longer kicks off the broadcast standing. Instead, he’s seated at the corner of an L-shaped anchor desk originally created for “Nightly” back in 2017. The desk has been updated since then, including some new surfaces and an update to remove the classic “NBC News” logo.

The broadcast briefly shows this wide view of the studio, with the date showcased on the top of the LED ribbon that runs down the middle of the studio.

For most of the broadcast, Llamas sits at the anchor desk, which has been set up in a corner on the west side of the space. His primary background is the nearly floor-to-ceiling video wall first added in 2018 that also includes a curved strip of LED that became known as the “Kornacki Curve,” after the network’s chief data guru Steve Kornacki, whose interactive touchscreen is often placed at the end of the segment.

Placing the desk here allows the broadcast to use the curved segment to display a video-wall headline with topical imagery behind it. The flat LED behind it can then be used to showcase additional imagery when available. 

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There is also the option to shift the camera slightly and use the lower part of the upside-down U-shaped LED ribbon that runs up one side of the studio, across the space and down the other, with the topical graphic appearing camera left. This segment can be used for headline and topical images as well as sporting generic “Nightly”-branded graphics, including the “NN” icon introduced as part of a logo and graphics overall from 2023.

One of the key components from that update, a prominent repeating stack of Ns rendered with a glassy effect against a blue-violet background, has been significantly toned down, however. 

In its place is a more subtle take on the “N” motif that centers around smaller segments of the 3D elements offset with washes of blues and violets. Those blues also appear to shift to emphasizing some of the darker, richer shades of blue with fewer of the lighter reflections.

The broadcast has also introduced a stylized world-map look, featuring a thin violet outline and accented with dotted bursts of light.

Interestingly, this look has some similarities to what “CBS Evening News” began using in March 2026 and the longtime look “ABC World News Tonight” uses on their video wall backgrounds, though each broadcast uses a slightly different color scheme, accents and other design elements to help differentiate this common news backdrop element. 

“Nightly” also uses the green box studio space tucked behind sliding walls on the west side, with a virtual set extension showcasing a simulated view of Rockefeller Center as viewed from an imaginary outdoor rooftop plaza.

While primarily used simply as a background element, the virtual space can also be used to showcase a floating framed graphic alongside a standing anchor position in front of the opening to the chroma key space.

Like the west side of the studio, the perpendicular flat LED walls on the opposite end of the room can also be used for in-studio weather briefings, such as during the May 18 broadcast when Al Roker appeared near one end of the desk before walking over to leverage the walls as weather maps. 

The other parts of the LED visible during the segment continue the simplified rich blue graphics. During the May 18 weather update, some of the space was used to showcase additional wild weather imagery, while a banner across Roker’s maps read “NBC News Weather.”

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For the kicker, “Nightly” shifts to having Llamas stand in front of the same general area he sits near, with the desk rolled out of the way. The mobile riser with an LED floor, which is placed back in the corner for the entire broadcast, remains in place and is more visible in the kicker’s intro.

Llamas then shifts back to the desk for the broadcast’s close.

From a blocking perspective, many of the shots used in 3A actually replicate, to varying degrees, some of the views used down in Studio 1A.

In this screenshot from earlier in May 2026, Tom Llamas is positioned in the normal setup for the top story of ‘NBC Nightly News.’

Even though Llamas no longer stands at the top of the broadcast, the opening shot still has many of the same foundational elements as before.

It’s worth noting that the shot used for most anchor intros also shares a framework with the ones delivered from the small anchor desk in 1A.

This composite shows how most stories were introduced when ‘NBC Nightly News’ was in Studio 1A during Lester Holt (top) and Tom Llamas’ tenures. When Llamas took over, the broadcast began shooting the area from a lower vantage point.

The curved segment, for example, stands in for the 40-foot curved video wall in 1A as well as the flat segment camera left of that. The larger, flat LED wall in 3A, meanwhile, is in place of the secondary LED panels installed over the windows downstairs.

“Nightly” began shifting to having more shots of Llamas, including the top story, from the seated position earlier in May 2026, which may have been done as a way to help get viewers used to the new set yet to come.

In addition to “Nightly,” NBC also shifted production of its signature streaming news program “Top Story with Tom Llamas” to 3A.

“Top Story” is produced immediately following “Nightly” on the East Coast, so sharing studios makes the switchover easier. “Top Story,” which streams on NBC News Now, had been using 1A as well since Llamas took over “Nightly.”

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“Top Story” uses many of the same parts of the studio as “Nightly,” including the same anchor desk.

One notable changeup, however, is that Llamas opens “Top Story” from a standing position, with the anchor desk moved to the east side of the studio and parked in the background.

Many of the other anchor intros move to the desk position, however.

Video wall graphics for “Top Story” appear to have been simplified a bit, with less emphasis on the bold, bright satellite map imagery in favor of a world map outline, oversized typography and fewer lines and other micro accents.