Katie Couric

Katie Couric has made perky popular in talk TV. And she’s done it without having to hide her intelligence from her viewers. In a crowd of female news personalities encouraged to dumb down and tone up, Katie Couric stands out as a genuine, thoughtful personality. Katie Couric (born January 7, 1957) has been gracing the TV landscape since her 1986-1988 Emmy-winning stint at NBC’s Washington D.C. station. Along with it came an AP journalism award, and a guarantee that this hot newcomer would be sure to go places. The following year Couric—with some impressive new credentials—moved to NBC’s network news staff.

But along with Katie Couric’s work ethic and reporting skills came a great deal of raw broadcasting talent. After a number of high profile broadcast substitution assignments and co-anchor arrangements, Couric landed her role as co-host of the NBC morning talk, news, and variety show Today. She remained closely tied to the NBC news division, working in various capacities with NBC’s primetime news magazine Dateline NBC. And that capacity and others, she has interviewed a wide range of high-profile figures for national television. Her interviewees include government leaders such as Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, as well as personalities as controversial as O.J. Simpson.

Katie Couric’s move to CBS as solo news anchor in 2006 came as a surprise to many. The announcement of the decision came from CBS the same day that Couric informed her six million daily viewers of her anticipated departure. Couric, with her long career in TV journalism, feels the move is the right one. National news anchor positions on the “Big Three” networks have until now been filled by men. But Couric is no stranger to changing the formula. She had previously taken unprecedented steps a TV personality in the fight against cancer. Having lost a husband to colon cancer, Couric went about promoting awareness about the disease, as well as breast cancer.

There are rumored romantic connections between Katie and a few distinguished gentlemen, but Couric prefers keeping that part of her life private.