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The CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS.

1 Early history

It originally competed against the Camel News Caravan on NBC, and was anchored by Douglas Edwards . Edwards attracted more viewers during the mid-1950s, but lost ground when Chet Huntley and David Brinkley were teamed up by NBC on the Huntley-Brinkley Report.

2 Cronkite years

Walter Cronkite gained the anchor chair in 1962 and on September 2, 1963, CBS Evening News became network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, the show was lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes. During most of the 1960s, the CBS Evening News lagged behind the Huntley-Brinkley Report in terms of viewership levels. The beginnings of corporate ossification at RCA, the parent company of NBC, set in and Cronkite helped guide the broadcast to ratings wins in the summers of 1968 and 1969. In 1970, upon Huntley's retirement, the CBS Evening News began a period of domination in terms of viewership unmatched in American television. In the process, Walter Cronkite became an American icon.

3 Rather new beginning

Dan Rather took over the program in 1981. Within months, the program skidded to third in the viewership race, behind ABC World News TonightABC World News Tonight is the ABC television network's flagship evening news program. Harry Reasoner and Howard K. Smith co-anchored the ABC Evening News from December 1970. In 1975, Reasoner assumed sole anchor responsibilities until his pairing with Bar and NBC Nightly NewsNBC Nightly News is the flagship US evening news program on NBC. The program succeeded the Huntley-Brinkley Report upon the retirement of Chet Huntley in 1970. At first, a troika of anchors, John Chancellor, Frank McGee, and David Brinkley presented the n. CBS poured resources into CBS Evening News and pushed the show back into first place in the viewership battle for a few years under the leadership of CBS News president Van Gordon Sauter.

4 Ratings slump

The program's fortunes fell, however, after Sauter ran afoul of his Rather and others within CBS News who perceived him as being too low-market. Sauter was forced out and soon thereafter, the ratings of the Evening News began a decline from which they have never recovered.

Theories abound concerning the loss of viewers from the Evening News. One theory is decreasing viewer interest in evening news programs with the ascent of alternative media such as cable televisionCable television or Community Antenna Television CATV (and often shortened to 'cable') is a system of providing television, FM radio programming and other services to consumers through fixed coaxial cables, rather than by the older and more widespread rad news, talk radioTalk radio are radio stations and programs which focus on holding some sort of public discussions. Such shows always include an element of listener participation. Listeners contribute to talk radio by calling a show's toll-free phone number, or in some ca, and the InternetThis article is about the Internet the extensive, worldwide computer network available to the public. An internet is a more general term for a set of interconnected computer networks that are connected by internetworking''. WWW information network structu. Others believe Rather's viewership has declined because he has not allowed the Evening News to change with the times. Still others attribute the drop to the ouster of Sauter. With the departure of Sauter, the theory goes, Rather and others had no one to check their liberalLiberalism is a political current embracing several historical and present-day ideologies that claim defense of individual liberty as the purpose of government. It typically favors the right to dissent from orthodox tenets or established authorities in po impulses and as a result, injected them too often into broadcasts, offending conservativeConservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. There are also a number of Conservative political parties in various countries. All of these are primarily (though not necessaril viewers in the process. Yet another theory holds the ratings declined after corporate takeover baron president Larry Tisch purchased CBS in the late 1980s and gutted the news division, hampering its ability to cover news well.

CBS has made several attempts to boost the show out of third place including the hiring of Connie ChungConstance Yu-Hwa Chung (born August 20, 1946) is a Chinese American television news anchor-woman. She grew up in Washington D. as the daughter of a high ranking KMT diplomat from the Republic of China. Her real breakthrough in television news came when sh as a co-anchor with Rather. For a while, it tried to attract younger viewers by running jokes from late-night comedy shows. The network has also attempted to make partnerships with the cable news channel CNN to exchange content and correspondents.



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