Hoda Kotb Says She Changed Thermostat at ‘Today’ When She Became Anchor (Exclusive)

When Hoda Kotb first began co-hosting the Today show’s 10 a.m. hour alongside broadcasting legend Kathie Lee Gifford back in 2008, they revolutionized the fourth hour of the show with a jaunty vibe, fun interviews and wine (on-air!) before noon.

But while two female cohosts of the fourth hour was a runaway hit, the idea of having an all female anchor team kicking off the show’s 7 a.m. news-led hour seemed very far away.

But everything abruptly changed in 2017, when veteran anchor Matt Lauer was abruptly dismissed from his position anchoring the show alongside Savannah Guthrie amid allegations of sexual abuse.

“On the morning that the whole thing happened with Matt, Savannah and I held hands and said a prayer, and our Executive Producer Libby Liest joined us and I don’t think at the time anyone recognized what it was, other than let’s kind of get through this,” Kotb recalls, as she opens up in the new issue of PEOPLE, on stands Friday, about her decision to leave Today after 17 years. “But we were working through everything together as three women and it felt different, after 50 years of men being in charge of everything.” 

That January, Kotb, 60, was named co-anchor in a history making pairing alongside Guthrie, making them the first all-female anchor team on network television.

“We asked Hoda to step in in the interim, and our of our thoughts were, ‘ok we’re going to need a man, who will it be?'” Guthrie recalls. “But then it dawned on all of us that this was the most obvious, most sensible and best choice. And the most exciting thing was, audiences not only embraced it, it never even became a thing. People were ready for this.”

Guthrie says she feels lucky still that Kotb was willing to take on the challenge. “Of course its a dream job for any broadcaster, but Hoda had it pretty good on the fourth hour and she could have just stayed there forever,” Guthrie says. “So I think her agreeing to come on board and take on this bigger role and this bigger responsibility was a gift to all of us.”

“It really was a kind of a sea change, and we didn’t know how it was going to work out. It was just it was so different than what the other shows were,” says Kotb. “But we both had distinctive lanes, and I think there’s trust between us. Without that, forget it.”

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They also took charge of one pesky detail that had been bothering the women in the studio for years: the thermostat.

“It used to be in the 60s, maybe even the upper 50s. It was freezing,” says Kotb. “Now it’s easily 75-80. You can go in with a dress. The guys are sweating. But we said, ‘we’ve spent decades chattering our teeth, so now it’s our turn.’”

And as Kotb and Guthrie check in with NBC’s local news anchor teams around the country every day, they can see the impact their pairing has had.

For more on Hoda Kotb, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

“When we do cross talks with our local affiliates, more and more and more we see those two female anchor teams,” Guthrie says. Adds Kotb: “That used to be like, ‘What’s that? What?’ Now, it’s like, ‘Of course that’s what it is.’ It’s a wonderful thing to see.”