Newsbeat with Brian Williams

I had always had Stone Phillips pegged as the “hip” network news anchor, especially after his gravitas-off and subsequent rematch with Stephen Colbert. But if NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has his druthers, he’ll soon be usurping that title: he’s launching a new online indie-music interview series. And it’s called—wait for it—BriTunes.

Williams himself writes: “Okay, so I didn’t name this thing, but I did come up with the idea. I have always loved identifying good music and good groups—discovering them early (bar bands are best) and following them through their journey. While we’ll interview some established musicians, mostly I’d like this to be a place where people can sample some of the great music being created every day, by talented musicians who wouldn’t dream of doing anything else.”

The inaugural episode features an interview with Deer Tick, which is a great choice. The best moment is when Brian Williams asks lead singer John McCauley how he’ll know when his life has changed. McCauley responds, “Probably when I get a phone call, ‘John, I’m pregnant.'”
You can find this and future episodes at BriTunes.  Williams hasn’t announced which other acts he’ll profile, but around the 13:15 mark of this interview with Michael Phelps, he reveals that he’s a Lil’ Wayne fan. We can hope…