Albert Lincoln Roker Jr. (born August 20, 1954) is an American weather presenter, journalist, television personality, and author. He is the weather anchor on NBC's Today, and occasionally co-hosts 3rd Hour Today. He has a lapsed American Meteorological Society (AMS) Television Seal of Approval (#238).
Roker was born in the borough of Queens, New York City, the son of Isabel, of Jamaican descent, and Albert Lincoln Roker Sr., a bus driver of Bahamian descent. He initially wanted to be a cartoonist. He was raised Catholic, his mother's faith, and graduated from Xavier High School in Manhattan. He attended the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego, where he received a B.A. in communications in 1976.
Roker worked as a weather anchor for CBS affiliate WHEN-TV (now WTVH) in Syracuse, New York, from 1974 until 1976, while he was enrolled at SUNY Oswego. During his time in Oswego, he also DJ'd at the campus radio station, WNYO. Following the completion of his studies, Roker moved to Washington, D.C., and took a weathercasting position at independent station WTTG, then owned by Metromedia, remaining there for much of the next two years.
Roker's career with NBC began in 1978 when he was hired at WKYC in Cleveland, then an NBC owned-and-operated station. After five years in Cleveland, Roker was promoted to the network's flagship outlet, WNBC-TV in his hometown. Roker returned to New York City in late 1983 as a weekend weathercaster, and within eight months became the station's regular weeknight weathercaster. Roker replaced 27-year WNBC-TV veteran Dr. Frank Field, who left the network over a contract dispute. From 1983 to 1996, Roker was the regular substitute for forecaster Joe Witte on the NBC News program NBC News at Sunrise, and from 1990 to 1995 filled in for Willard Scott, Bryant Gumbel and 1997 through the 2000s for Matt Lauer on the Today Show. In 1995, he became the host of The Al Roker Show, a weekend talk show on CNBC.
Roker received wider exposure when David Letterman asked him to join in an elevator race on an episode of the talk show Late Night with David Letterman, which taped across the hall from the WNBC news studio in the GE Building. This led to Roker becoming the forecaster for Weekend Today. He also substituted on the weekday edition of Today when Willard Scott was ill or away.
Full time on Today (1996–present)
In early 1996, Scott announced his semi-retirement from Today. On January 26, 1996, Roker received the regular weekday weather slot. Roker's studio remote forecasts, interviewing visitors outside and giving them some camera time, became a staple. Roker conducted more interviews and segments on the show over time. He continues the daily tradition of birthday wishes to centenarians that began with Scott.
In 2005, Roker reported from inside Hurricane Wilma. A popular viral video shows him swept off his feet by the fierce wind and clinging to the cameraman.
In addition to his role as Today Show weather man and anchor, Roker co-hosted the third hour of Today called Today's Take, beginning November 12, 2012. Today's Take was cancelled in February 2017 for Megyn Kelly Today and aired its final episode on September 22, 2017. After Megyn Kelly Today was cancelled in 2018, Roker returned to co-host 3rd Hour Today.
During the 2013 inauguration of Barack Obama, Roker received a handshake from Joe Biden. Years later, as an NBC News reporter at Biden's own 2021 inauguration, Roker received a fist bump from the newly inaugurated president moments before Biden entered the White House.
In November 2014, Roker embarked on a "Rokerthon", in which he did a non-stop, 34-hour weather forecast on NBC, from 10:05 p.m. on November 12, 2014, until about 8:00 a.m. on November 14, 2014. The record-setting event was a fundraiser for the Crowdrise Campaign to benefit the military and USO. He held a "Rokerthon 2", this time reporting weather from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. during the week from November 6 to November 13, 2015, in support of Feeding America. From March 27 until March 31, 2017, he embarked on "Rokerthon 3", visiting colleges and setting a Guinness World Record at each one, such as the longest conga line on ice and largest human letter.
Roker has hosted NBC's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade since 1995 (with the exception of 2022), where he provides commentary along with some of his Today Show colleagues. He is known as the "uptown" host, whose main roles include cutting the ribbon during the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the start of the parade, and interviewing celebrities who are watching the parade from its start at 77th Street. Roker was unable to host the coverage of the parade in 2022 after recovering from blood clots that had led to being hospitalized.
Roker is a game show fan. From 1996 to 1997, he hosted a game show on MSNBC called Remember This?. He substituted for Meredith Vieira for a week of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire shows from March 5–9, 2007.
In 2008, Roker hosted NBC's Celebrity Family Feud.
He hosted a week-long feature on Today profiling five game shows and their hosts in July 2016 titled "Game On Today". He has appeared as a celebrity player on both Merv Griffin game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
Roker has hosted programs on Food Network, namely, Roker on the Road, and Tricked-Out Tailgating. He is also an avid barbecue enthusiast.
Roker provided forecasts for several radio stations, including the New York smooth jazz radio station WQCD (101.9 FM) and for Cleveland smooth jazz station WNWV (107.3 FM), through a service called the "Al Roker Radio Weather Network", distributed by United Stations Radio Networks. It has since been replaced by Accuweather.
He also had a one and a half hour weekday morning stint live from 5:00–7:00 a.m. on The Weather Channel under the name Wake Up with Al which aired from 2009 until 2015.