As Katie Couric sat behind the “Today” show desk Wednesday morning with her co-anchor, Matt Lauer, and announced her plans to anchor the “CBS Evening News,” it did not come as a great surprise to me, an aspiring broadcaster and huge news nerd. After all, what rational person wouldn’t leave their job to make a few extra million dollars a year? I know I would.

The prospect of Couric leaving her 15-year reign with the morning program got me thinking that the “Big Three,” — NBC, CBS and ABC — will once again be scrambling to ensure their positions in the ratings.

Who will come out on top?

After watching a news conference with the NBC Entertainment President, Jeff Zucker, “Today” Producer Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira, the newly-named Couric replacement, the chemistry between Lauer and Vieira seems to have already sparked. The two were already teasing one another and laughing about the first time they met. In my mind, unless NBC finds some catastrophic, unthinkable way to kill the “Today” show, it will continue its 10-year reign atop the morning news programs.

Who even watches the “CBS Early Show”? Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer are not getting any younger over at “Good Morning America.” For the near future ABC has no hope of topping the newly formed “Today” team of Lauer, Vieira, Ann Curry and Al Roker.

However, it’s not the morning news that needs to be brought out of submission. It’s the coveted evening news crowd where Couric has now found herself that needs revitalization. Not only has Couric’s new home, CBS, been third in the evening news ratings for almost as long as I’ve been alive, but viewers in general don’t watch the 6:30 news anymore.

Can Couric finally bring CBS out of third place?

My answer is absolutely.

Her fan base has become so loyal over this past decade that she is sure to attract at least a small following to her new network. Although I see little hope for her overtaking Brian Williams, her former co-worker at NBC, in the ratings, she will have a fighting chance against NBCs “Nightly News” and ABCs “World News Tonight.”

But the more important question is can Couric become the pacemaker that will get the heart of evening news going again?

The short answer is no.

The longer, more in-depth answer is possibly. Couric brings with her, not only years of journalism skills, but a personality that makes you feel like you’re one of her closest friends, even if you’ve never met her.

The strong charisma that has radiated from Couric over the past decade is sure to have some effect on the way CBS — and all the networks for that matter — runs their 6:30 p.m. broadcast.

Couric is well known for her live interviews and quirky, on-air humor. It’s this type of personality that just may save the evening news. Once Couric establishes her place among the evening crowd, NBC and ABC will soon be following the new format of 6:30 news that Couric will have re-written.

So maybe, just maybe, hope still shines for news nerds like me who still enjoy the evening news.

Chris Conte, a freshman in the College of General Studies, is a contributing writer for The Daily Free Press. He can be reached at [email protected].