Mark Neerman was an executive producer at a CBS-owned station in Pittsburgh when he first met Dan Rather. It was 1997 and Rather was in town to anchor the "CBS Evening News." Nearly a decade later, Neerman, now news director at KVVU Channel 5 (Fox), still recalls Rather's sense of humor especially when it came to playing a practical joke on the station's employees.
"Our main anchor (Stacy Smith) had a seat in the afternoon meeting that everyone knew was his," Neerman said. "It was kind of a running joke that no one would dare sit in his seat."
Neerman asked Rather if he would sit in the anchor's chair before the meeting. When Smith walked into the meeting a few minutes later, he was shocked.
"(Rather) looked up at him and said, 'Mr. Smith, I'm sorry I'm in your seat,'" Neerman said. "Stacy, of course, tuned 17 shades of red. It was a great moment.
"You could really see the real Dan Rather. He was really warm, which is a side of Dan Rather that viewers have not gotten to see as much."
After nearly 25 years of anchoring the "CBS Evening News," Rather has shown many sides of his personality to viewers:
The memos proved to be forgeries, prompting an outside panel review into the story. The story's producer was fired and three CBS News executives were asked to resign for their roles.
Before the panel was appointed, however, Rather announced he was stepping down as anchor. Rather, whose contract with CBS expires in 2006, planned to quit at his 25th anniversary next year. Instead, he is leaving 24 years to the day Wednesday that he took over for Walter Cronkite.
The man who once famously stood up to Nixon, who reported from war zones in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, who braved hurricanes for the sake of a story, is going out rather quietly and humbly.
CBS is devoting a one-hour special to Rather, in addition to the news clips the network has shown recently of the anchor-reporter throughout his career. NBC, comparatively, devoted two hours to Tom Brokaw when the anchor stepped down in November. "When you look at the Brokaw situation compared to Rather's, they are two completely different ways of exiting," said Jim Snyder, 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. anchor for KVBC Channel 3 (NBC). "Brokaw was No. 1 in the ratings and to be able to go out on top and still have a hand in the network, that's the storybook ending most of us would write for our careers."
And Rather?
"After decades covering so many events in the world, in a lot of people's minds what he'll be remembered for now is the scandal with the memos," Snyder said. "Right or wrong, it's the opposite end of a career (from Brokaw's) to go out that way."
Loved and despised
Perhaps more than any network anchor, Rather has generated his share of supporters and detractors throughout his four decades of reporting and anchoring. It's what happens when you're a "super-aggressive reporter," said Mike Murray, interim director of the journalism school at UNLV and author of "Political Performers: CBS Broadcasts and the Public Interest."
"When you're super-aggressive, you're going to ruffle some feathers and make enemies," he said. "Also, when you make mistakes, they tend to get magnified when you have that kind of cachet."
Meanwhile, the core of CBS's correspondents remain fiercely loyal to Rather and rely on him for advice, Murray said.
When Byron Pitts was sent to Afghanistan after Sept. 11, the reporter told Murray he turned to Rather for advice.
Rather gave Pitts a book to read, told him not to carry cash while away from the compound and to hire bodyguards rather than carry a weapon.
"These are very practical things that only someone with Dan's background in reporting war would know about," Murray said. "I think the public is much better served by someone with that kind of background."
Rather has always taken pride in the fact that he never stopped being a reporter, even telling the New Yorker in a recent interview, "I was determined to be a reporter-anchor."
Many of his peers, meanwhile, have said publicly Rather made a better reporter than anchor.
"Rather is a superb reporter and dead honest," Mike Wallace told the New Yorker. "But he's not as easy to watch as (Peter) Jennings or Brokaw. He's uptight and occasionally contrived.
"It's his style, and it's been a very effective style. God knows, I believe him. But I don't find him as satisfying to watch."
Among local newscasters, views of Rather as an anchor are mixed.
"Being from Texas, I enjoy his folksy style," said Kendall Tenney, 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. anchor for KVBC Channel 3. "Beyond that, I don't know that I would call myself a fan. I was more influenced by Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert."
While an acknowledged Jennings fan, Jeff Gillan, anchor of Las Vegas ONE's "In Business Las Vegas" on Cox cable channel 19, said he admires Rather's straightforward approach to newscasts.
"He got on the TV and said, 'Here's what happened today, whether you like it or not.' I liked that about him," Gillan said.
And for those moments when Rather let down his guard and showed emotion?
"He was a very passionate reporter and that would come out," Gillan said. "I don't know how many elections I would watch him and he would cry at some point. And God bless him for it. I like that about him."
Chapter closed
In more ways than one, Rather's stepping down resembles the end of an era.
At 73, Rather is seven years older than both his interim replacement, Bob Schieffer, and Jennings. Rather is also nearly three decades older than Brian Williams, Brokaw's replacement.
Just as Rather has grown older, however, his stoic manner of delivering the news has aged with him -- especially when contrasted with today's more personable anchor style.
"Successful anchors today are real people: they're your neighbor, your friend, someone who has thoughts. They're real," Neerman said. "Katie Couric, when she fills in on 'Nightly News,' is not a good news reader. But it doesn't matter.
"She's a real person and viewers respond to that."
What will happen to the "Evening News" post-Rather remains to be seen. Even as Schieffer temporarily fills the anchor seat, speculation is that the network will implement a multianchor team as the permanent format.
Ironically, CBS tried the dual-anchor approach with Rather in June 1993, pairing him with Connie Chung. The format lasted two years.
While Rather is stepping down as anchor, he's not retiring from reporting, and will remain as a correspondent with the "60 Minutes" programs.
Reporting is what Rather will best be known for, despite being the nation's longest-running network evening news anchor.
"Dan was always a far better reporter than an anchor," Gillan said. "He was a reporter who never forgot that he was a reporter. He loved getting out and doing stuff, and I always respected that greatly about him."
Tenney echoed that sentiment.
"What I appreciate about (Rather) more than anything else is his reporting in general, with the exception of what just happened," he said. "He isn't afraid to get his hands dirty and really get into the story, perhaps more so than other network anchors might."
But some feel it's the "exception" -- the failure with the Bush National Guard story -- that, rightly or wrongly, has cast a shadow over Rather's career.
"He had a lifetime of great reporting under his belt, but he's going to be remembered most for Memogate," said John Huck, 10 p.m. anchor at KVVU. "That's going to be at the top of his obituary."
Murray, though, said in time Rather's mistake will be overlooked, especially when compared to his many accomplishments.
"Look at all the things Rather did. He was the London bureau chief for CBS. He was the White House correspondent. He covered historic events in Dallas in 1963, reporting on the Kennedy assassination 'round the clock. He was in Chicago for the Democratic convention, the Civil Rights Movement and Watergate. He covered wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf.
"I think people will look back at Dan Rather and ... think this is a minor blip on the radar screen," Murray said.
Tenney, for one, said he hopes that's true. "He has done some tremendous work over the years. Unfortunately, a lot of time we're remembered for the moments where we didn't shine. I fear that may be his legacy, but I hope not."
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