Molly Qerim had a start on her career by covering college football, the NCAA Tournament, National Signing Day, and the U.S. Open. She was also a studio anchor and hosted SEC Tonight, SEC Tailgate Show, Full Court Press, and MaxPreps Lemming Report. Qerim hosted NFL Network’s weekday morning show NFL AM and NFL Fantasy Live. She has also covered the UFC with ESPN, FS1, and Versus (now NBCSN) and even co-hosted the annual World MMA Awards.
By 2008, Qerim served as the interactive host for College Football Live on ESPN and ESPN2. In mid-July 2015, she was the interim host of ESPN2’s First Take and eventually replaced Cari Champion after the latter was promoted to the network’s flagship show. Qerim became the permanent host of First Take on September 2015.
Hoda Kotb – $2 Million
Hoda Kotb, who is of Egyptian descent, began her career in 1986 as a news assistant for CBS News in Cairo, Egypt. But it wasn’t long before she became an anchor and general assignment reporter to WQAD-TV and ABC Moline, Illinois. In 1998, she moved to NBC and was the national correspondent for the NBC News and contributing anchor and correspondent for Dateline NBC. Eventually, Today got her to be the 4th-hour co-host with Kathie Lee Gifford, where she received a Daytime Emmy Award in 2010.
Kotb earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism in 1986 at Virginia Tech. In 2008, she was the keynote speaker for the 2008 Virginia Tech graduation and was elected to the Virginia Tech Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2010.
Shepard Smith – $10m
Shepard Smith has a quite a long career in journalism, signing his first TV contract in 1986 in Florida. He even joined Fox News Channel when it first started in 1996. He used to host Fox News’ The Fox Report with Shepard Smith and Studio B, which were eventually replaced by Shepard Smith Reporting in October 2013. It aired in the 3 p.m. ET time slot, finishing ahead of his competitors.
Smith’s hard work has paid off in which he was tied for second, along with Peter Jennings and Dan Rather, in the 2003 TV Guide poll as the most trusted news anchor on both cable news and network. Currently, he is also Fox News’ chief news anchor and managing editor of the breaking news division.
Andrea Mitchell – $750k
Andrea Mitchell is the definition of loyalty since she has been with NBC since 1978. Prior to NBC, she had her first taste of broadcasting as a news director of student radio station WXPN while studying at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, she became a reporter at KYW radio and then as the station’s City Hall correspondent. In 1976, she moved to CBS-affiliate WTOP (now WUSA), and in 1978, she was NBC’s general correspondent. She later became NBC News’ energy correspondent.
Mitchell covered the White House from 1981 and soon became Chief Congressional correspondent. She currently hosts Andrea Mitchell Reports, which she has done since 2008. She is also a frequent guest on Hardball with Chris Matthews and The Rachel Maddow Show.
Lindsay Czarniak – $1m
Lindsay Czarniak’s first plunge into the broadcasting business was in WUSA in Washington, D.C. as an intern and later, she was hired as a CNN production assistant. She worked for WAWS in Florida when she first became a news reporter. In 2005, she joined WRC-TV and became a co-host of The George Michael Sports Machine. She also had her first major assignment as a reporter when she covered the 2006 Winter Olympics for NBC Sports. When George Michael stepped down as NBC4’s sports anchor, Czarniak and Dan Hellie were named as co-sports anchors.
Czarniak left NBC 4 and moved to ESPN in 2011. She made her debut on SportsCenter and covered the pre-season football games. Eventually, she became the 6 pm co-host of SportsCenter. She also replaced Brent Musburger as the host of the network’s coverage of the Indianapolis 500, making her the first woman to host the telecast. Her contract with ESPN ended in August 2017, but she recently signed with Fox Sports as a studio host for their NASCAR coverage.