Charles Osgood Retires From ‘CBS Sunday Morning’, Jane Pauley Named As New Host

Charles Osgood signed off from CBS Sunday Morning” one last time this morning (September 25), but not before naming his replacement — former Today Show co-anchor Jane Pauley, who joined CBS News in 2014 as a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning, where she was a fill-in anchor of that show and CBS Evening News.

Before Charles Osgood could name Jane Pauley as his heir on CBS Sunday Morning, the show’s many contributors took an extended look back at the 50-year career of Osgood, who has helmed CBS Sunday Morning for more than 20 years.

Of the many pre-taped pieces that ran for more than an hour this morning, one poignant piece looked back at Charles Osgood’s childhood, starting in the Bronx until his family moved to Baltimore when he was 12-years-old.

Charles Osgood reminisced about his Baltimore childhood and how radio — a medium which gave him his start in media and will continue bringing him into homes during his semi-retirement — brought the world to his working class neighborhood.

“Radio was my window on the world — and a world unto itself, a world more fantastic, and more real, than the world I saw every day in Baltimore … ‘The Lone Ranger’ and Edgar Bergen, the only ventriloquist every to succeed on radio. I even knew what the Shadow looked like, and he was invisible!

“American radio of the 1940s had a profound influence on me — it’s the reason I am doing what I do today, instead of playing the organ at a skating rink. I could imagine no career more delightful, except perhaps to play shortstop for the Orioles. That dream was a little unrealistic, though — I was afraid of ground balls!”

The retrospective on the career of Charles Osgood looked back at his decades in radio before becoming an on-air personality at CBS News. The pieces also focused on Osgood’s musical talents, his extensive collection of bow ties — he did not start wearing his defining look until the middle of his career — and the broadcast aired a piece shot at Charles Osgood’s vacation home in the South of France.

Before his final goodbyes, Charles Osgood played a song he had written to fans of the show and then introduced Jane Pauley as his replacement on CBS Sunday Morning.

“Pauley, 65, will become only the third host in the show’s history, following Osgood, 83, who’s retiring after 22 years on the show (and 45 at CBS News) and will take over on Oct. 9,” USA Today reports. “She is best known to NBC viewers as the host of Today from 1976 to 1989, alongside Tom Brokaw and Bryant Gumbel, an 11-year run as the original host of Dateline NBC, starting in 1992; and host of a short-lived daytime talk show in 2004.”

CBS Sunday Morning executive producer Robert Morrison told CNN Money in a statement that Jane Pauley was a natural fit for the CBS Sunday show and became a part of the broadcast after the show did a story about — who else? — Jane Pauley.

“We first got to know Jane when we did a story about her,” Morrison said in a statement to CNN. “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.”

During the broadcast, Charles Osgood told viewers that Jane Pauley would begin as permanent host of ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ in two weeks — October 9. Next week’s broadcast is being preempted by an NFL Sunday game being broadcast from London.

As for what is next for Charles Osgood, his wife said during the broadcast that they would spend more time at their home in France. During the piece from their summer home, Osgood showed off his basement studio where he can continue filing radio reports even while on vacation.

[Featured Image by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images]