Walter Cronkite 13 moon missions, Cronkite received the best ratings and made CBS the most-watched television network for the missions. In 1970, when Huntley retired, the "CBS Evening News" finally dominated the American TV news viewing audience. Although NBC finally settled on the skilled and well-respected broadcast journalist John Chancellor, Cronkite proved to be more popular and continued to be top-rated until his retirement in 1981. One of Cronkite's trademarks was ending the "CBS Evening News" with the phrase "...And that's the way it is," followed by the date. Keeping to standards of objective journalism, he omitted this phrase on nights when
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.