Lester Holt And His Son Run Into Each Other On-Air

The broadcast journalism stars aligned on Monday to allow a rare father-son moment on air. Lester Holt was greeted by his son Stefan before a routine promo for NBC Nightly News during a news program by NBC's Chicago affiliate. Both father and son were filling in for other people at the time, so the moment is especially serendipitous. Though the exchange was short, the love between the father-son duo was palpable, and Lester called it the "best part of my day."

NBC anchors often do promo spots for local news affiliates to preview that evening's news stories, which the local anchors introduce, or in newscaster speak, "throw to." On Monday evening, Lester filmed one of these promo spots to air on WMAQ-TV, aka NBC Chicago, and the local anchor who threw to him was none other than his son Stefan. The younger Holt presented the spot with a sweet hello to his father:

Nightly News is coming up at 5:30. NBC's Lester Holt here with a preview of the newscast. Hi dad!

Lester joked that he was confused about the time because Stefan doesn't normally anchor the afternoon program, then returned his son's greeting with his own sweet message.

I gotta check my watch — I thought this was the morning. Good to see you, Stefan. Proud of you.

At the end of Lester's spot, he threw it back to Stefan and his co-anchor, Marion Brooks, who pointed out, "Not many people can say 'Hey, dad! How ya doin'?'"

It may not have been an exciting breaking news story, but it was definitely a refreshing change of pace from the usual newscast. The best part about it is that it was completely fortuitous.

Lester has been holding it down for Brian Williams since his six-month suspension began in February, doing a stellar job as interim nightly news anchor of NBC Nightly News. Stefan, who usually anchors WMAQ-TV's morning news program, was also filling in for someone on the 5 p.m. newscast. So neither father nor son were reporting at their usual time, and yet they met on air for the first time in their careers. Perhaps the news gods felt like we were in desperate need of a feel-good moment and worked their magic. After seeing the bond between the father-son duo, it's safe to assume that Stefan was inspired by his dad growing up. Later on, Lester tweeted about the fateful exchange.

Watch the adorable clip below.

Images: NBC Chicago, Getty Images