Tom Brokaw's NBC sign-off day set for Dec. 1\nNEW YORK --Tom Brokaw's sign-off date as anchor of NBC's top-rated "Nightly News" has been set -- it's Wednesday, Dec. 1.\nHis successor, Brian Williams, will take over as sole anchor the next day, the network announced Monday.\nBrokaw, 64, announced two years ago he will end his "Nightly News" run shortly after the 2004 presidential election, giving way to longtime heir appar-ent Williams.\nBrokaw began as "Nightly News" anchor on April 5, 1982 teamed with Roger Mudd. He took over as sole anchor Sept. 2, 1983.
Consumer board issues warning over talent contest\nNEW YORK -- A nationwide talent competition for aspiring performers is a sham charging contestants thousands of dollars but fails to deliver on promised results, state consumer authorities said Monday.\nThe Fashion Rock contest is an arm of Trans Continental Talent, which is run by music promoter Lou Pearlman, best known for launching the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync.\nThe competition is held every three months in Orlando, Fla., and winners are promised more than $100,000 in contracts, said Teresa Santiago, executive director of The New York State Consumer Protection Board.\nA fine-print notice says the contracts are "endorsement" contracts, but winners are led to believe that they will get work as models or entertainers, Santiago said.\n"If a winner is paid anything at all it's only cash paid out in monthly installments over three years," she said. "Fashion Rock should stop pretending to be a contest like 'American Idol.'"\nA spokeswoman for Trans Continental did not return a call seeking comment.\nSandra Couto, 26, said she won two modeling titles at a Fashion Rock contest last fall after paying Trans Continental about $5,000, but the only job she has gotten was a promotional event at a mall that earned her $200.\n"I basically just don't want anybody else out there to make the same mistake that I did, spending so much money and basically not really getting anything out of it," Couto said.\nThe Florida attorney general's office is also investigating the company.
Thanks Donald! NBC scores a Trump-inspired win\nNEW YORK -- NBC owes Donald Trump a big thank-you bouquet: the outsized real estate mogul was almost single-handedly responsible for the network's ratings sweep last week.\nThe finale of "The Apprentice," where Trump hired Bill Rancic to oversee a Chicago construction project, was seen by more than 28 million people last week.\nThat was only the beginning, though. A "Dateline NBC" special behind-the-scenes look at "The Apprentice," had 10.4 million viewers and ranked No. 22 in viewership for the week.
