By Mark Jurkowitz, Globe Staff, 2/2/2000

ANCHESTER, NH - Tim Russert's New Hampshire primary day got off to a hectic start. The host of ''Meet the Press'' appeared on NBC's ''Today'' show, chatted with talk host Don Imus on MSNBC, and shortly after noon, hopped aboard a makeshift stage in the media center at the Holiday Inn to dispense some punditry during an interview on MSNBC.

NEW HAMPSHIRE RESULTS Republican 98% of precincts reporting McCain 49% Bush 31% Forbes 13% Keyes 6% Bauer 1% Democrats 98% of precincts reporting Gore 52% Bradley 47% Percentages will not necessarily add to 100. FROM THE GLOBE Democrats fight to a close finish Independents turn GOP contest Contrarians speak up, leaders get wake up call Arizona senator has found strength in his weaknesses Independent voters say character was key to decision Why they voted the way they did Result no setback for Bush backer Cellucci Primary shows off NBC synergy Independents seen taking up the insurgents' fight Bauer, Keyes unbowed as they vow to soldier on Forbes hopes to make it a three-way race Bush campaign says it's ready to move on In Granite State diner, a final helping of politics First primary settled, campaigns mull new tactics On campaign trail, it's a frantic pace Vow of tenacity keeps Bradley's spirits high, focus keen For vice president's campaign, no letup in asking for votes NECN VIDEO Forbes praises McCain win, asks for more support Keyes will stay in race, despite big N.H. loss Gore wins the Democratic N.H. primary over Bradley Bradley greets voters at polls Will Bradley triumph? Turnout heavy in Granite State Can McCain pull off a victory? Gore makes a last minute effort These video clips are viewed using RealPlayer. Get RealPlayer | Help EARLIER COVERAGE Gore wins close race among Democrats McCain savors big win over Bush in GOP race True to tradition, N.H. tests front-runners McCain impressed voters as straight shooter GOP voters happier with candidates than in '96 Independents say character was key to vote Granite State voters have their say N.H. Secretary of State again predicts high turnout Keys to reading the New Hampshire returns Bradley, McCain win Dixville Notch, Hart's Location

Meanwhile, ''NBC Nightly News'' anchor Tom Brokaw was proving equally versatile. On Monday night, he appeared on Chris Matthews's MSNBC/CNBC talk show ''Hardball'' before trading barbs with Imus yesterday morning. Later, he anchored the NBC news, broke into the network for post-election interviews with the top candidates last night, and moved over to MSNBC to help handle its election night chores.

For NBC - along with its cable cousins MSNBC and CNBC - this is the synergy election. In the past few years, giant media mergers - such as the AOL-Time Warner deal - have sparked feverish speculation about the looming impact of information conglomerates on journalism. At NBC, that future is now.

''I've grown up with this network,'' Brokaw said in an interview yesterday. ''We're now a formidable operation coming at you from every direction. What we have to do is become greater than the sum of our parts at the end of the day.''

When the Alaska Airlines jet went down on Monday evening, New Hampshire-based MSNBC news anchor Brian Williams hustled on the air ''and at one point, we're on three networks and the Web site is humming,'' he says. ''That is someone's version of what this [media synergy] is supposed to do.''

Yesterday, the Granite State was virtually crawling with the synergy company's cameras. The bucolic Bedford Village Inn, with its Christmas-card setting, housed three sets - one for Brokaw's NBC evening news show, another for an MSNBC ''Decision 2000'' program hosted by NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell, and another for Williams's MSNBC special.

With all the MSNBC/CNBC election programming on tap here, one can almost envision the changing of the guard as news migrates from broadcast to cable. Brokaw acknowledged for example, that MSNBC, rather than NBC, may carry most of this year's nominating conventions. But he said the traditional half-hour newscasts still stand out as signature news shows, adding that ''I always believed there was [no] giving up on the network evening news.''

Still, NBC's veteran journalists - grounded in old media traditions - are living the changes that synergy has wrought.

The ''NBC Nightly News'' is no longer ''the wire service over the air, which is what the old network newscast used to be,'' said Brokaw. ''The day's news is value added.''

Williams said the selling point for the MSNBC cable operation was NBC's established news brand and established journalists. But the concept, said Williams, was ''completely different. There's no entertainment division. ... We're not encumbered with `ER.' We're not bursting into programming. This is our programming.''

On one hand, Williams feels liberated by a certain cable informality. ''I don't use Arafat's title,'' he said. ''If you don't know who he is, you're not watching anyway.'' Conversely, he said, ''one downside of the explosion of outlets'' is a change in reporting standards. ''I don't think we're going through the longstanding confirmation process of the sourcing of stories.''

Veteran NBC correspondent Mitchell, who often hops between reporting for NBC's evening news and appearing on MSNBC, said ''I really think NBC saw the vision of all these possibilities ... MSNBC gives us the chance to be a little more personal and conversational. I think ... each venue is so unique that it's just a different set of muscles to exercise.''

Chris Matthews's frothy made-for-cable ''Hardball'' is a clear beneficiary of synergy. ''It's the time of night when people have generally sat down and watched entertainment television,'' he explained. ''I can have a lot of fun on my show that you can't do on a news show.''

Ask NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC contributor Russert about the ratings success of ''Meet the Press'' and he practically becomes a cyber geek, explaining how fans can get the show's guest list e-mailed to them. ''It's absolutely dramatic,'' he says of the influx of new media on politics. ''There's this wonderful cross pollination between `Meet the Press' and a Web site.'' At NBC these days, cross-pollination is the lead story.