Tom Llamas

Reporter

Updated 4:10 PM EST, Tue, Nov 10, 2009

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Emmy Award-winning journalist Tom Llamas joined News 4 New York as a General Assignment Reporter in January 2009.

Llamas joined WNBC from NBC owned WTVJ/NBC6 in Miami where he reported for the 6PM, 7PM, 10PM and 11PM weekday newscasts since 2005. His focus was on breaking news stories, investigative reports and special projects. Additionally, he contributed to NBC’s Today Show, MSNBC, and NBC’s affiliate service Newschannel. Llamas was also the fill-in anchor for WTVJ’s weekend evening newscasts.

Llamas’ assignments at WTVJ took him all over the country and to the Caribbean. He covered Pope Benedict XVI's trip to Washington, the Virginia Tech massacre from Blacksburg, the death of Anna Nicole Smith in Nassau, and was in Biloxi when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. He also reported from Montego Bay, Jamaica on the Princess Cruise Ship fire, and has covered 8 hurricanes.

In 2008 Llamas became the first and only TV journalist ever embedded with the Coast Guard during a human smuggling interdiction at sea. The Emmy Award winning story documented how Cuban refugees are smuggled into the US via "Go-Fast" boats and the Coast Guard's mission to intercept these vessels.

Prior to joining WTVJ, Llamas worked for MSNBC as a political campaign reporter. Over the course of two years, Llamas traveled to over 40 states covering the Presidential campaigns of Senator John Kerry and the Reverend Al Sharpton, and the Vice Presidential campaign of Senator John Edwards. He shot, wrote, edited and reported live daily on the Democratic candidates for MSNBC, and contributed print reports and a daily blog for msnbc.com.

Llamas began his career in broadcasting in New York with the NBC News Specials Unit during the 2000 presidential election and then moved to MSNBC. In his first two years at MSNBC, he worked on coverage of the September 11th attacks and the war with Afghanistan.

Llamas was born and raised in Miami after his parents fled from Cuba during the 1960’s. He graduated from Loyola University in New Orleans with Bachelor of Arts Degrees in both Communications and Drama and Speech. Llamas also completed a program at the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies which focused on Raul Castro and Cuban-American Voters.

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