CBS Evening News greeting "Good evening everyone, coast to coast" to begin each broadcast. On November 30, 1956, the program became the first to use the new technology of videotape to time delay the broadcast (which originated in New York City) for the western United States. Walter Cronkite became anchor of the program titled "Walter Cronkite with the News" on April 16, 1962. On September 2, 1963, the program, retitled "CBS Evening News", became the first half-hour weeknight news broadcast of network television and was moved to 6:30 p.m. Eastern time (the "Huntley-Brinkley Report" on NBC expanded to 30 minutes exactly one week
Walter Cronkite correspondents, relieving Bill Downs as the head of the Moscow bureau. CBS offered Cronkite $125 ($2,189 in 2018 money) a week along with "commercial fees" amounting to $25 ($438 in 2018) for almost every time Cronkite reported on air. Up to that point, he had been making $57.50 ($1,006 in 2018) per week at UP, but he had reservations about broadcasting. He initially accepted the offer. When he informed his boss Harrison Salisbury, UP countered with a raise of $17.50 ($306 in 2018) per week; Hugh Baillie also offered him an extra $20 ($350 in 2018) per week to stay.