2006: The Broadcast Year’s Best Quotes

> Oct. 5:

“They wrote some lines and taught me a style, put a happy face on the script where I should smile, And the key demographics went right off the chart…”

—Bob Schieffer‘s country ditty about a TV anchorman

> Apr. 10:

“This is a time of amazing change for all of the evening newscasts. The last one has been a year unlike any we’ve seen across the industry in 20 years.”

—Rome Hartman, to David Bauder

> May 24:

“I believed Elizabeth and Bob were the right people at the right time. Unfortunately, some insurgents in Iraq had a different idea.”

—David Westin, to Matea Gold

> Jan. 4:

“What’s scary right now is the average age of the network news viewer is 60 years old.”

—Les Moonves, to Neil Cavuto

> Jan. 7:

“They’re talking about giving Katie Couric $20 million. I say take that $20 million you could buy 40 reporters, 40 new reporters.”

—Andy Rooney, to Larry King

> Apr. 3:

“Couric shouldn’t leave NBC. Doing so would be a terrible mistake… It’s clear that while Couric is very good at a lot of things – and she has to be, to be at Today – the CBS Evening News isn’t a good fit.”

–NY Daily News TV critic Richard Huff

> Jul. 24:

“Alert the media — they’ve come up with the secret formula. It’s called New Coke.”

–An NBC spokesperson, reacting to ABC’s decision to drop the “Tonight” from “World News Tonight.” ABC responds by saying NBC Nightly News is “losing its fizz”

> Jun. 17:

“Among the places he had sought solace… was in ‘Good Night, and Good Luck,’ George Clooney’s homage to Edward R. Murrow and the CBS News of old, a film that Mr. Rather said he had seen five times in theaters, most recently alone.”

—Jacques Steinberg, writing about Dan Rather

> Oct. 30:

“We’re like a franchise football team that went out and got a superstar and brought in some big hitters and we expected to be 8-and-0 at this point, and we’re not.”

—Byron Pitts, to Peter Johnson, talking about Katie Couric

> Nov. 29:

“To be honest with you, I think it’s a political statement, not a news judgment.”

—Rome Hartman, to Rebecca Dana, referring to NBC’s “civil war” stance

> Sep. 26:

“Brian is back where God wanted him to be, at No. 1”

—Bob Wright, referring to Brian Williams‘ success after Couric’s premiere