• by David Kaplan , March 11, 2005

As Dan Rather said farewell to his anchor desk perch after 24 years--the last of which was one of his most tumultuous--"The CBS Evening News With Dan Rather," with a household rating share of 7.3/13, finished first in the 56 Nielsen metered markets on Wednesday.

The usual leader of that time slot, "NBC Nightly News" (with a rating share of 6.5/12) was second, followed by ABC's "World News Tonight" (6.4/12).

Rather, who assumed the anchor position on March 9, 1981, ended Wednesday's broadcast with "The CBS Evening News" facing uncertainty, but a chance to shake up its typical last-place showing. Veteran CBS journalist Bob Schieffer will fill in until CBS decides what direction to place the broadcast in. One of the ideas is to have a different set of hosts.

Rather stepped down amid criticism stemming from a seriously flawed report he participated in on "60 Minutes Wednesday" regarding President Bush's National Guard service.

"One of the tragedies is that that Rather was so personified by the '60 Minutes Wednesday' scandal, it harmed his ability as head of 'CBS Evening News' to capitalize on [former NBC news anchor] Tom Brokaw's retirement," said John Rash, senior vice president, director of Broadcast Negotiations for Campbell-Mithun, Minneapolis.