• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 2, 2006

"Peace out, homies," could be the new ending signature message of "CBS Evening News" when Katie Couric takes the chair in the fall.

Historically, this would be a significant cultural change from the "Good night, and good luck" or "That's the way it is" from its anchors of the past.

Couric was kidding, but the effort to make the show a little more down-to-earth is in the cards. She told CBS affiliates in Las Vegas yesterday, "The era of pretentious anchoring is over. People want someone more humanistic, more direct rather than someone pompous... giving them the news."

Of course, that's always been the exact opposite tradition at CBS, which has been more regal, less down-and-dirty. Meanwhile, ABC, with its two-anchor format--now gone, through unfortunate incidents and other changes--tried to go in the less-pretentious direction, with its anchors more out in the field, more like lead reporters than anything else.

No more "Voice of God," which CBS CEO Leslie Moonves has said in the past. Couric, with some $15 million a year in salary, is only hired earthling help--not a god.

Couric will no doubt appear somewhat warmer than Dan Rather, and perhaps a little funnier. In regards to the show's opening line of "good evening," Couric said, "I might not do that. Who says 'Good evening' (besides) waiters?"

Right here, she's got me. The success of an anchor should bring more of a mixed presenting profile these days. A somewhat critical view of Couric is that she may be too lightweight to handle the big evening news. But Couric did hundreds of serious interviews on "The Today Show," as well as the lightweight cooking features.

And in an age of the Internet news and blogs, a mixture of heavy and light news is actually just the right recipe. That will make the show more humanistic; advertisers should buy in just for that.