DONNA SVENNEVIK / ABC
Charlie Gibson has helped "ABC World News" to a solid first place in the Nielsen ratings.
Page: 3 of 3 View All
Slow, steady Gibson wins anchor race
"The money thing is just irrelevant," he insists.
Contact staff writer Gail Shister at 215-854-2224 or gshister@phillynews.com. Read her recent work at http://go.philly.com/gailshister.
Maybe, but Gibson is lowest paid of the Big 3 anchors. Couric makes an estimated $15 million a year; Williams more than $10 million. Gibson's salary is estimated at $8 million.
His wife, Arlene, longtime headmistress at a tony private girls school in New York, is retired. She serves on the board of her alma mater, Bryn Mawr College.
Gibson is in no hurry to retire; neither does he want to stay too long at the party. His departure "will be organic, I think.
"When you don't expect this job, which I didn't, and you're of an age when you know you're not going to go off and do some other career, it takes a tremendous amount of pressure off you."
Charlie Gibson, anchor at last.
A Volatile Year
The network evening-news terrain has shifted considerably since Charlie Gibson assumed ABC's anchor chair 14 months ago. (Numbers are the average number of viewers each night.)
Network 2005-06 2006-07 Percent
season season change
ABC 8.444 million 8.664 million +2.6%
Anchors Elizabeth Vargas Charlie Gibson
Bob Woodruff
Charlie Gibson
CBS 7.555 7.157 -5.3%
Anchor Bob Schieffer Katie Couric
NBC 9.437 8.828 -6.5%
Anchor Brian Williams Brian Williams
SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research
SOURCE: Nielsen Media ResearchContact staff writer Gail Shister at 215-854-2224 or gshister@phillynews.com. Read her recent work at http://go.philly.com/gailshister.
