Dan Rather leaving anchor chair

Just days before Tom Brokaw turns the "NBC Nightly News" anchor chair over to Brian Williams, Dan Rather has announced that he too is stepping down. He'll exit the anchor chair for the "CBS Evening News" next March 9th - - 24 years after taking over from Walter Cronkite.

The move comes as an independent panel continues to investigate how a piece anchored by Rather aired on "60 Minutes Wednesday" in September that featured apparently phony documents about President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. After first defending the story, Rather delivered an on-air apology for the shoddy journalism. But there was no mention of the controversy as he announced his decision to retire from daily anchoring.

"I have been lucky and blessed over these years to have what is, to me, the best job in the world and to have it at CBS News. Along the way, I've had the honor of working with some of the most talented, dedicated professionals in the world, and I'm appreciative of the opportunity to continue doing so in the years ahead," Rather said. And while he won't be anchoring the network's primary weekday newscast after March 2005, he will remain at CBS, reporting for both the Sunday and Wednesday editions of "60 Minutes" along with other assignments for CBS News.

At 73, Rather is the eldest of the three major network anchors, but until now had refused to speculate, at least in public, on retirement. "I have always said that I'd know when the time was right to step away from the anchor chair," he said. Rather said he'd begun talks with CBS management about stepping down back in the summer and said "we decided" that it would be appropriate to do so at the end of the election cycle.

"Dan's dedication to his craft and his remarkable skills as a reporter are legendary," said CBS News President Andrew Heyward. "He has symbolized the CBS Evening News for nearly a quarter century. He'll continue to apply his talents to everything he does at CBS News. I look forward to saluting his extraordinary tenure in the Evening News chair early next year."

There was no immediate word on who will succeed Rather as CBS' primary anchor.

RBR observation:
CBS has been #3 for some time now in the evening news horserace - - and that's despite having surged to #1 with its primetime schedule. With #1 NBC changing horses as Brokaw voluntarily retires from the daily grind, it's obvious that a fresh face at CBS could help the Eye net capitalize on its primetime success and increase viewership of its newscast. There's no indication that Peter Jennings, who age-wise is between Rather and Brokaw, has any intention of following them into retirement anytime soon, so ABC may hope to grab the #1 spot by emphasizing stability while its competitors are in the midst of change. We always preferred Rather the reporter (despite the 60 Minutes debacle) to Rather the anchor - - so we hope he'll continue to be the hard-hitting, combative journalist that we've all learned to love and sometimes hate. Perhaps CBS should put him back on the White House beat for a while. Now, wouldn't that be something to see!