ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 9, 1996 TAG: 9601100127
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
Andrew Heyward, who at 45 is a 20-year veteran of CBS, has been named president of CBS News. The widely anticipated appointment was made official Monday morning.
For the past year executive producer of the ``CBS Evening News with Dan Rather,'' he succeeds Eric Ober, who announced his own dismissal two weeks ago.
Ober, also a CBS career man, had been news president for five tumultuous years under former CBS Chairman Laurence Tisch, years that saw the network and its flagship newscast slip into third place in the ratings.
CBS itself faces life under its new owner, Westinghouse Electric Corp., which last year moved to acquire the network for $5.4 billion.
``There is no quick fix or easy solution, or we would have done it,'' said Heyward, who takes over a dispirited news division that has suffered years of budget cutbacks and eroding audience levels.
``Eric Ober brought us through arguably the most difficult period in the news division's history and left us a solid foundation to build on. We have a long, challenging task ahead of us, and I believe we have the people and resources to do it.''
Dan Rather commented: ``I hope and believe that Andrew Heyward will be my last president at CBS News. I worked closely with him practically from the moment he walked in here, and this succession now is logical and right, and it's also welcome.''
``We are going to go forward with Heyward,'' Rather said with a chuckle.
In making the announcement, CBS president Peter Lund called Heyward ``an innovator who has explored new genres in the medium and made them a success. hard news and the magazine format.''
Heyward was previously executive producer of ``Eye to Eye with Connie Chung'' and developed ``48 Hours.''
With CBS since 1976 and at the network level since 1981, Heyward has won 11 national Emmys.
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Heywardby CNB