• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Scott Pelley to replace Katie Couric at CBS

TheBigA said:
SanDiegoInExile said:
I am surprised Scott Pelley would want to leave 60 Minutes and do daily newscasts.
Click to expand...

He doesn't have to. Katie does both. So did Rather. Pay him enough and he'll do Face the Nation too.
Click to expand...

True, but the evening news barely pulls in 5M viewers, requires a full-time commitment, and isn't the plum assignment it was when you had three channels. Katie barely did 5-6 stories on 60 Minutes a year. Scott Pelley does one nearly every other week. And The CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley isn't exactly going to supplant ABC or NBC ratings-wise.

The days of high-priced talent for routine broadcasts are over. At least until the next boomlet sends ad rates skyrocketing like they did earlier in the 2000s.
 
For what it's worth...

Despite the diminishing influence of the three network evening newscasts, millions still watch.

And despite all that, the evening news anchor is still the lead face of the network's news division, no matter what happens with that usually-6:30 PM time slot.
 
I agree. I also think that, unless there's somebody at the local
level I haven't heard about, Peter Jennings was the last of the
Murrow-Cronkite breed. True, too, that Scott Pelley doesn't have
the morning-show aura about him that Katie has had to work so
hard to overcome.

This is just my personal opinion, but I think Katie reached a turning
point when she interviewed Sarah Palin, especially when she challenged
Palin to name just one of the many newspapers and magazines Palin
supposedly reads and Palin was pressed to come up with one.

However, I'm also of the opinion that Katie will be identified with the "Today" show
until she enters the grave. As a member of Parliament said when Neville
Chamberlain was about to replaced as Prime Minister by Winston Churchill:
"In the name of God...GO!"
 
searadiofreak said:
CBS has a history of NOT auditioning this position. It was widely assumed that Rather would take over for Cronkite, and while there was some time between Rather and Couric, (Shieffer), Katie was the rumored successor well before she went on the air. The Pelley story seems pretty solid. Bigger story perhaps is how long these half-hour network newscasts can be relevant, although I have been hearing that question for the past 30 years.

As for Anderson, he already has a syndicated talk show in the works, doubt he is in the mix.
Click to expand...

Pelley did a great job in the 60 minutes seat since Wallace left. I think its good for pelley to take this seat.
 
Garrett said:
johnnya2k6 said:
I'd rather hear Wendell Craig intone the words "This is the CBS Evening News with Harry Smith" rather than Scott Pelley's name.
Click to expand...

Harry would be a mistake. They need someone serious and deadpan, not morning show-like. They did that, that was Katie. The new boss over there is "hard news" focused. That's a strike against Harry...
Click to expand...
I agree. He's warm and fuzzy, but at least he's not cutesy.

A good substitute (Katie would have been too) but not the heir apparent to Cronkite.
 
I'd rather hear Wendell Craig intone the words "This is the CBS Evening News with Harry Smith" rather than Scott Pelley's name.

Or Lester Holt.
 
I spoke with Scott Pelley. He won't discuss the possibility of taking over the anchor chair from Katie Couric but he insisted the "institution" of the evening news is sound.
He says the CBS Evening News has more viewers than the cable news networks combined. If you combine the viewing audiences of the NBC Nightly News, ABC's World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News, more than 20 million tune in nightly.
 
Remember the motto that history repeats itself.

Years ago when there it was just speculation (at the time) that Cronkite was going to retire, the so-called "word -on-the-street" was that Roger Mudd was the heir apparent. Well we all know what happened. Dan Rather lobbied like hell for the job and got it; resulting in Mudd leaving CBS.

Perhaps I'm wrong but my instincts keep on telling me that Lester Holt is also being considered for the job to replace Couric. Granted Holt works for rival NBC while Pelley is employed at CBS. But that didn't stop CBS from hiring Couric away from NBC.

Nothing against Mr. Pelley, but Lester Holt is a damn good anchor and interviewer. So I wouldn't count him out of contention.....just yet.
 
SanDiegoInExile said:
True, but the evening news barely pulls in 5M viewers, requires a full-time commitment, and isn't the plum assignment it was when you had three channels. Katie barely did 5-6 stories on 60 Minutes a year. Scott Pelley does one nearly every other week. And The CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley isn't exactly going to supplant ABC or NBC ratings-wise.

The days of high-priced talent for routine broadcasts are over. At least until the next boomlet sends ad rates skyrocketing like they did earlier in the 2000s.
Click to expand...

This.
 
fussbudget said:
I spoke with Scott Pelley. He won't discuss the possibility of taking over the anchor chair from Katie Couric but he insisted the "institution" of the evening news is sound. He says the CBS Evening News has more viewers than the cable news networks combined. If you combine the viewing audiences of the NBC Nightly News, ABC's World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News, more than 20 million tune in nightly.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is definitely true, although you wouldn't know it from all the publicity that the alleged news networks receive. However, the CBS Evening News has one-third the viewers that 60 Minutes has. The article in the Tuesday NY Times pointed out that Mr Pelley is the #1 60 Minutes reporter, airtime-wise. I suppose it's still considered a plum assignment, especially for journalists. The daily network newscast isn't going to be extinct anytime soon, but I think they would get similar ratings regardless of who anchors.
 
"60 Minutes" also airs at a time when more people are available;
not many people are on their way home from work at 7/6 on Sunday.
Also, "60 Minutes" tries to adhere to the credo Don Hewitt set for it
when he created it: inform me, but entertain me too.
 
Mark_Giardina said:
Remember the motto that history repeats itself.

Years ago when there it was just speculation (at the time) that Cronkite was going to retire, the so-called "word -on-the-street" was that Roger Mudd was the heir apparent. Well we all know what happened. Dan Rather lobbied like hell for the job and got it; resulting in Mudd leaving CBS.

Perhaps I'm wrong but my instincts keep on telling me that Lester Holt is also being considered for the job to replace Couric. Granted Holt works for rival NBC while Pelley is employed at CBS. But that didn't stop CBS from hiring Couric away from NBC.

Nothing against Mr. Pelley, but Lester Holt is a damn good anchor and interviewer. So I wouldn't count him out of contention.....just yet.
Click to expand...

I recall that Rather got the job because of his more-extensive overseas reporting experience. Dan would go anywhere, anytime to get a story; Mudd, OTOH, rarely left Washington and didn't want to. That's not to say that Rather didn't lobby hard for it; CBS simply felt he was more knowledgeable about the big wide world than Mudd was. I also recall that the two-anchor format of Mudd and Tom Brokaw on NBC didn't last very long.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom