In her eight years at NBC’s “Today,” Melissa Lonner has built the show’s concert series into a year-round event, and the prestige music booking for morning TV. Lonner — who also helmed NBC’s broadcast of the opening ceremonies for the London Olympics — starts lining up her summer concerts in November, and gave One Direction its U.S. TV debut in March 2012. The group made its third appearance on the show on Aug. 23, a week before its movie “This Is Us” opened, and drew the biggest crowd ever to Rockefeller Plaza: more than an estimated 18,000.
4:45 AM I shower, get dressed, have a cup of coffee, get in a cab and go to work.
5:45 AM Check in to see if the fans are being loaded in and the security is OK. There are probably 10,000 people there already. Fans started getting in line a week ago. We had to send them home, but we allowed them to start waiting two days ago.
6:30 AM The guys arrive. When we booked them the first time, in March of last year, the fan requests were nonstop, and we had no choice but to move it out of the studio and onto the plaza.
8:30 AM The first song, “What Makes You Beautiful.” We always open with the biggest hit. That’s how we get viewers to say, “Oh, I know them!”
8:50 AM At the end of the fourth song a fan jumps onstage. That’s never happened before. Security grabs her before she can tackle Niall [Horan].
9:10 AM We go to the green room and do a “Backstage Pass” interview for our website. After we’re done, the group has a meeting with Marco Gastel from Modest Management, Rob Stringer from Columbia and the movie studio to plan the rest of their day.
10:15 AM Senior producers meeting. We discuss everything in the news currently and go over the rundown for the show Monday.
11:00 AM I take one of my employees to brunch at Norma’s at the Parker Meridien because it’s her last day on the job. After such a long morning some of us needed a drink. We begged the waiter for a Bloody Mary but they don’t serve alcohol at Norma’s.
1:00 PM Screening for a Universal film, “About Time,” for consideration of coverage.
3:15 PM Back at the office. Savannah Guthrie is doing a profile on Pharrell Williams that will air next Thursday. The interview is on Sunday, and I discuss it with the producer. I also meet with producers about Keith Urban and Ariana Grande performances in September.
4:30 PM Go home to get ready for a flight from JFK to Amalfi. It’s summer vacation. But I still have a conference call next Tuesday with Katy Perry’s people.
-Joe Levy