Jane Pauley has been named the new host of CBS Sunday Morning. A handoff happened this morning as Charles Osgood signed off the morning show after 22 years.
Sunday Morning has only had two hosts in its nearly 38 years. Charles Kuralt hosted from 1979-1994 and Osgood since. Osgood has been with the CBS family for nearly 50 years, and will continue his radio reports.
Pauley, who spent nearly 30 years with NBC, is perhaps best known for co-anchoring NBC’s Today show for 13 years, from 1976-1989.
Pauley joined CBS in 2014 as a contributor to Sunday Morning. “My pulse is absolutely racing at that news — CBS!” Pauley said when it was announced she was joining the network. She’s also filled in on CBS This Morning and CBS Evening News.
After leaving Today in 1989, Pauley remained with NBC. She anchored Dateline from 1992 to 2003, and hosted Time and Again, a retrospective news series built from the NBC archives, which aired on MSNBC. She officially left NBC in 2003, but continued to contribute. She also hosted a syndicated daytime show in 2004-2005.
CBS Sunday Morning remains the most-watched morning show on TV. Its 2015-2016 season average of 5.92 million viewers even topped the weekday broadcasts Good Morning America, Today and CBS This Morning.
Pauley, 65, is also a best-selling author. She and her husband, Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, are the parents of three, and grandparents of two. When Pauley returned to the Today show after giving birth to twins in 1986, she told People magazine, “I’m more than satisfied with my role on Today—I’ve just signed a new, five-year contract. But, now that I have three children, I wonder if my commitment to family will ever compromise my professional ambitions for the future.”
Considering she’s just been named the host of the most-watched morning show on TV, we’re thinking she never needed to.
CBS Sunday Morning retiring host Charles Osgood introduces Jane Pauley, his replacement to host the program. Michele Crowe/CBS
Here’s the CBS News release:
JANE PAULEY NAMED ANCHOR OF AWARD-WINNING “CBS SUNDAY MORNING”
Pauley to Succeed Retiring Charles Osgood on Nation’s #1 Sunday Morning News Program
Television legend Jane Pauley has been named the new anchor of CBS SUNDAY MORNING, the nation’s #1 Sunday morning news program, it was announced today by CBS News President David Rhodes.
Pauley will succeed Charles Osgood as anchor. Osgood is retiring on Sept. 25, 2016 after 22 years as anchor of the award-winning broadcast and after 45 years at CBS News. Pauley’s first broadcast in the new role will be Oct. 9, 2016, when she’ll become only the third anchor in the history of CBS SUNDAY MORNING.
Pauley joined CBS SUNDAY MORNING in 2014 as a contributor. Since then she’s been a substitute host and has delivered a steady stream of high-profile interviews and reporting to the broadcast.
“Charles Osgood set the standard for ‘CBS Sunday Morning,’” Pauley said. “And it’s a great honor to be given the chance to further our show’s legacy of excellence. I look forward to bringing loyal viewers the kind of engaging, original reporting that has made the broadcast so irresistible for so long.”
“Jane Pauley is the ideal host for the most wide-ranging news program on American culture, our beloved ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ broadcast,” said Rhodes. “Charles Osgood is a television news legend—and so is Jane Pauley.”
“We first got to know Jane when we did a story about her on Sunday Morning,” said Rand Morrison, Executive Producer of CBS SUNDAY MORNING. “Our viewers immediately responded by suggesting she belonged on Sunday Morning permanently. And – as is so often the case, they were right. She’s a dedicated, experienced broadcast journalist. But – every bit as important – she’s a delight to work with. A worthy successor – and a perfect fit.”
Highlights of Pauley’s work at CBS SUNDAY MORNING include a profile of Hillary Rodham Clinton; a moving interview with 11-year-old Marquis Govan, who became a voice of reason in the aftermath of the Ferguson, Mo shooting of an unarmed man by a police officer; the only TV interview with David Letterman about his retirement from late night television; and a report about a group of educators who lived through the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn, now fighting to change gun control laws.
Pauley is the recipient of multiple Emmys, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding achievement and the Gracie Allen Award from the Foundation of American Women in Radio & Television. Pauley is a member of the Broadcast and Cable Hall of Fame.
Before joining CBS News, Pauley was a familiar face on morning, daytime and primetime television. She began her network television career in 1976 as a co-host of NBC’s “Today” show. She spent 13 years on the morning broadcast, and a decade as the anchor of “Dateline NBC,” starting in 1992. She was the host of the syndicated daytime series, “The Jane Pauley Show” in 2004.
Pauley has written two New York Times bestsellers. A memoir, Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue (Ballantine Books 2004) and Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life (Simon & Schuster 2014) based on her award-winning series on “Today” about people 50 and over starting different careers, learning new skills, making a difference or pursuing their dreams.
A longtime advocate in children’s health and education, Pauley is also a highly regarded spokesperson in mental health.
She and her husband, Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, are the parents of three grown children and grandparents to two.