The Late Riser

"He was elegant and had a tremendous command of the English language," says Bob Sprague, who was the station's news director. "He was very interested in the way words were used, which impressed me." Gibson was so interested in politics that he paid his own way to the 1968 Republican convention in Miami. He also aggressively covered Lynchburg's desegregation battles. When he left town for the last time, all the tires on his car had been slashed.

Channel 7 brought Gibson back as a reporter and weekend anchor in 1970. "From the moment he walked in the newsroom," says Leonard Deibert, then the news director, "it was evident he was smart and savvy, but not in a cocky way. He had a great curiosity. He was unafraid of any reporting assignment."

But Deibert recalls the general manager, Tom Cookerly, saying: "He'll never make it in television. He looks too preppy." When Cookerly moved Gibson to radio, he quit and wound up working for a short-lived television news service bankrolled by conservative beer magnate Joseph Coors. Gibson covered the Watergate hearings on the Hill and sat next to ABC's Sam Donaldson, who recommended him to the network.

After covering the Ford White House for ABC, Gibson spent a decade stationed at the House. Brit Hume, who covered the Senate for ABC, says he and Gibson agreed over lunch not to sabotage each other in the nightly competition for airtime. "We never had a cross word or disagreement, mostly because he was so self-effacing," says Hume, now Fox's Washington managing editor. "He's such a good guy that he makes you behave better."

In 1987, after occasionally filling in as the news anchor on "GMA," Gibson was tapped as Joan Lunden's co-host. With his wife, Arlene -- then the director of the lower school at Holton-Arms in Bethesda -- Gibson moved to New York, beginning a successful morning run. "He certainly hasn't made up this soft-shoe, knowledgeable but friendly style," Donaldson says. "That's who Charlie is."

John Reiss, a former Gibson producer who is now executive producer of "NBC Nightly News," calls him "absolutely brilliant at ad-libbing." But Reiss remembers being puzzled at "GMA" when Gibson kept ignoring his instructions, talking right up to the last second before a commercial break, and finally asked him why.

"I could do the best interview in the world with some world leader and I'll come back and some producer would say my tie is crooked," Gibson told him. "This is my way of getting even."

In 1998, after "GMA" fell behind Couric and Lauer at "Today," Gibson was replaced by Kevin Newman. Seven months later, ABC dumped Newman and his co-host, Lisa McRee, and Westin persuaded Gibson to return by teaming him with Sawyer. What was originally billed as a temporary fix has lasted until now.

A Meat-and-Potatoes Man

The highlights have been airing each morning as "GMA" pays tribute to its departing host: Gibson anchoring from the CIA, from the Pentagon, from Buckingham Palace and Vatican City and a refugee camp in Macedonia. He is not the kind of interviewer who draws attention to himself, but caused a stir in 1999 when he challenged President Bill Clinton on gun control in the wake of the Columbine massacre.

"There are very basic measures that could be taken that people agree on," Gibson said. "We register every automobile in America. . . . That's a step that would make a difference."

"Look," Clinton shot back, "let's join the real world here. Now you want to have an honest conversation?"

Gibson says he tries to be "agnostic" on all issues -- except for smoking, which he says killed both his parents and his sister -- and took that approach after learning that gun control advocates as well as the National Rifle Association were unhappy with Clinton. "I just thought it might be something he wouldn't expect if I pressed him about what they were saying as opposed to the usual tack of asking about the NRA folks," he says.

In his new role, Gibson makes no secret that he is a meat-and-potatoes man, interested in Washington and foreign news and cool to softer features. He is well aware that viewers have been deserting the once-dominant network newscasts for two decades, but believes that they remain a formidable force.

"We've lost some audience because people's choices are so much broader now," Gibson says. "But I happen to believe there are three national printing presses in television, and now I've got one of them."