CBS Announces Couric's Replacement

NEW YORK (The Blaze/AP) -- CBS says Scott Pelley will take over as its evening news anchor, starting on June 6.

The network on Tuesday announced the expected selection of Pelley, the veteran "60 Minutes" reporter, to replace Katie Couric on the "CBS Evening News." Couric is pursuing a syndicated talk show, but hasn't said where she will be working next. The date for her final CBS broadcast has not been set.

Pelley is a Texas native who has worked at CBS for two decades. He will inherit a broadcast that is in last place in the ratings behind NBC and ABC, and has been for some time. CBS recounts his career path:

Few reporters have made as wide and as deep a mark on a news organization as Pelley has at CBS News, where he's covered everything from breaking national news stories to politics to wars and served as the network's chief White House correspondent. Since he brought that experience to "60 Minutes" in 2004, half of all the major awards won by the broadcast have been for stories reported by Pelley.

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In 1990, he was assigned for a year to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, during the Persian Gulf crisis. He covered Baghdad and later broadcast live reports during Iraqi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia. He joined the troops of the XVIII Airborne Corps for combat coverage of the invasion of Iraq and the liberation of Kuwait.

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Prior to his time at CBS News, Pelley was a producer/reporter for WFAA-TV Dallas/Fort Worth (1982-89), KXAS-TV Dallas/Fort Worth (1978-81) and KSEL-TV Lubbock, Texas (1975-78). He began his journalism career at the age of 15 as a copyboy at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal newspaper.

Before becoming chief White House correspondent, Pelley was assigned to the 1992 presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton and Ross Perot. Prior to that, he served as a CBS News correspondent based in Dallas, where he covered many of the biggest domestic stories, including the Oklahoma City bombing and the trial of Timothy McVeigh. He also reported on the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the Los Angeles Northridge earthquake, the Branch Davidian raid near Waco, Texas, Hurricanes Andrew and Hugo and NASA's shuttle missions. Pelley joined CBS News as a reporter based in New York in 1989.

CBS said Pelley will continue to do stories for "60 Minutes."