It’s Finally Official; Zahn to Join ‘CBS This Morning’

CBS News made it official today, announcing that former ABC anchorwoman Paula Zahn will succeed Kathleen Sullivan as co-anchor of “CBS This Morning” starting Monday.

CBS’ formal announcement came after two weeks of news reports that the move was pending. Sullivan indirectly confirmed the shift during her farewell to viewers Friday. Her CBS contract expires in November.

Erik Sorenson, the program’s executive producer, said today that “it wasn’t so much that we wanted to replace Kathleen as that we wanted to get Paula Zahn. It was one of those judgment calls that you make.”

Sullivan, 36, was co-host of the show with Harry Smith since it began in November, 1987. Like Zahn, 33, she was a morning news anchorwoman at ABC before joining CBS. Both had also worked at KCBS in Los Angeles, as had Sorenson.

They called Zahn’s agent to ask when her ABC News contract ended and she’d be available for contract talks, he said. He quoted the agent, Richard Leibner, as saying there were only eight days in February when she’d be available.

Sorenson said CBS officials were impressed with Zahn when she recently filled in for Joan Lunden on ABC’s “Good Morning America” for a week.

Sorenson said he and CBS News President David Burke spent three days weighing the pros and cons of hiring Zahn, “and it was not an easy decision because Kathleen is a hell of a broadcaster.”

However, he said in a phone interview, the show’s ratings “hadn’t exactly been going through the roof” and there was a need to make a long-range decision for the show.