Jeff Fager Tempers Anxiety of CBS Affiliates Board

Jeff Fager, who was recently promoted to chairman of CBS News, addressed the CBS affiliates board on Monday in Las Vegas, working to settle anxiety over ratings for the revamped “Early Show” and especially the “CBS Evening News,” which will soon have a new anchor.

“With Katie there was once a sense we were going to go in a different direction. It was going to be new and unique,” Kirk Black, senior vice president and general manager of Atlanta’s WGCL, told TVNewsCheck. “For whatever reason, that didn’t pan out. Right now, we’re anxious to see where they go next.”

While Fager didn’t go into great detail about Couric’s expected departure from the nightly newscast, he did impress station heads with his enthusiasm and hands-on approach to turning things around.

“He’s passionate and seems really motivated, almost like a station guy. He wants to get out there and get things pointed in the right direction,” Black said.

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