Morgan Freeman the New Voice of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric

The AP’s David Bauder reports Morgan Freeman is the new announcer for the “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.” Since Couric’s first night in the anchor chair in Sept. 2006, the announce was done by CBS News legend Walter Cronkite who died last summer.

“As comforting as it is to look back on the great career that Walter had, we’re looking forward now and we just felt it was the right time to make the move that at some point had to be made,” CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus tells Bauder.

Insiders tells us there have been on-and-off discussions with Freeman for some time. He has a relationship with Couric going back to the “Stand up to Cancer” specials. Morgan’s voice will premiere on tonight’s broadcast.

All three network broadcasts now have celebrities as their announcers. Michael Douglas began announcing “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” on Dec. 17, 2007.

And Mike Rowe, best known for hosting Discovery’s “Dirty Jobs” debuted as the voice of ABC “World News with Diane Sawyer” last month.

> Related: A Mike Wallace “60 Minutes” profile of Morgan Freeman from 2005.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.