This is a fuller, more orchestral arrangement of the previous theme. After pulling double duty on the Evening News and Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer returned full time to Face the Nation after Katie Couric started as main anchor at CBS. He is now the sunday morning moderator with the longest tenure.

James Horner’s CBS package is fairly extensive. This is the music that CBS uses for the election coverage since Katie Couric took over as lead anchor.

The CBS Evening News was given a total makeover when Katie Couric debuted as anchor. The theme was composed by James Horner (famous for his scoring of the hit movie Titanic). CBS wanted Horner to create a theme that stood out from other news themes, including its previous theme. Joel Beckerman of Man Made Music helped Horner convert his music to a real theme package by, for example, adding the three notes at the beginning of the headline tease. The theme has various opens and versions to reflect the different moods of the newscast. CBS likes the music so much, they asked Horner to adapt the theme for use on other CBS News programs such as the Early Show. This theme is also used by the CBS Morning News.

Below is the open to the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. His voice accompanied the open even after his death.

This was the theme that CBS used for all coverage of the 2003 War in Iraq. Theme music is very important in setting the tone for the program, as music instantly brings up associations in the minds of viewers. ABC used a variation of the Special Report theme that sounds rather sad and somber for the war. NBC used music by Michael Karp that sounded very dramatic. CBS, however, took a different approach, as you can hear. The network decided on a very aggressive piece of music that would shock-and-awe you. Peter Fish composed the music.

In 2002 Dan Rather stepped down as anchor of 48 Hours and was succeeded by Leslie Stahl, who is also a correspondent at 60 Minutes. The program was renamed to 48 Hours Investigates and the focus was now on investigating and telling true crime stories. Two years later the program changed its name yet again. This time it became 48 Hours Mystery and Stahl was out as anchor. She was succeeded by a rotating group of correspondents, much like ABC’s Downtown. The format, however, stayed mostly the same: a focus on telling true crime stories. The theme has not changed either.

Bob Schieffer is the moderator of Face the Nation. He authored an autobiography a few years ago. The book, besides sketching a detailed picture of the media through the better part of 40 years, reveals an unseen side to Schieffer. He claims to be in a war of practical jokes with former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw. At one time he spread the rumor that Brokaw would be replaced on the Today show by Alan Alda (of M*A*S*H fame). In fact, he even sent a phony fan letter to Brokaw stating his displeasure about that. But, Brokaw was not about to let Schieffer win from him, so he read that phony fan letter on the air and concluded by saying: “I’d tell you who wrote it, but you wouldn’t recognize the name.” This theme from Face the Nation has been used from September of 2002 until May 2009 and is composed by Peter Fish.

This theme was used during the last elections that Dan Rather covered for CBS. It’s composed by Michael Colina, who has done all election music for CBS since 1976.

At the top of each hour, listeners of Westwood One affiliated stations get a six minute news update from CBS News. Since early 2003 NBC News went back into the radio news business, also providing one-minute updates to Westwood One affiliates anchored by its big names. ABC News, of course, also has its own radio network and top of the hour news service.

Here’s the sounder that the CBS Radio News uses when they have a special report. It’s part of the package composed by Peter Fish.

On November 1, 1999 CBS changed the name of their morning show from “This Morning” to “The Early Show”. Like Today is a counterpart to Tonight, the Early Show is a counterpart to the Late Show. However, CBS also hoped that a new name would spark new interest and new viewers. Besides a new name, the program also got a new set of co-hosts, former Today Show co-anchor Bryant Gumbel and CBS News correspondent Jane Clayson as well as a $30 million street level studio, just like Today and GMA. In 2002, another major revamp of the Early Show took place when they switched to four cohosts. Like in 1996, they changed from a more typical and conventional format to one that was different and offered the viewers an alternative. The theme is composed by Jazz composer/musician, Chris Bowman and it has a name! It is called ‘Sunrise’. It was dropped in 2002 in favor of an instrumental version of the song “Brand New Day” by Sting. Below you’ll find two versions of the theme.

This theme was used in the years before 48 Hours was revamped. The graphics gave the program a big city and very contemporary feel and look, which stood in stark contrast to the retro look of the original CBS newsmagazine, 60 Minutes.

This is the theme to Sunday Morning, composed by Johann Gottfried and called “Abblasen”. This music has been used on CBS News Sunday Morning for many years, but only since 1998 have they been using this version performed by Doc Severinson, the former Tonight Show bandleader. CBS Sunday Morning, anchored since 1994 by Charles Osgood, focuses on the day’s news but also on arts and entertainment. Being a successful morning program, CBS News executives attempted in the early 80′s to transfer the Sunday morning format to weekdays with anchors Charles Kuralt and Diane Sawyer. So this theme was also used on the weekday morning show for a short period of time.

Katie Couric was not the first Today personality to be lured to rival CBS. Her old partner Bryant Gumbel preceded her. In 1997 he moved to CBS to anchor a primetime newsmagazine: Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel. With an emphasis on serious journalism, costs were high while ratings were not. Within a year the program was cancelled and replaced by another CBS newsmagazine – 60 Minutes II. These days Public Eye is the name of the blog for CBS News. The theme for the newsmagazine Public Eye is composed and played by Neal Fox of Patterson, Walz & Fox.

Throughout TV-history, CBS has performed miserably in the morning timeslot. Often, while GMA and Today competed for first place, CBS was a distant third. CBS’ problems started with a 90-minute program in 1980 called ‘Morning’ with hosts Diane Sawyer and Charles Kuralt. After a 30-minute expansion and a few seasons, both had left and were replaced with various unsuccessful anchors. It was decided that the program needed a total makeover. On January 12, 1987 CBS launched ‘The Morning Program’, a 90-minute show hosted by Mariette Hartley, Rolland Smith, weather by Mark Mc Ewen, and comedy by Bob Saget. This program attempting to blend comedy with news was cancelled after a mere ten months. A new effort called CBS This Morning premiered on November 30, 1987 with anchors Harry Smith and Kathleen Sullivan plus sports with Greg Gumbel. In 1990 Sullivan was replaced by Paula Zahn. This anchor team remained intact until Mark McEwen (formerly the show’s weatherman) and Jane Robelot (formerly the news anchor) took over in 1996. They also changed the format to include more local news. During this period this theme was used. It’s performed by Carley Simon, who also co-wrote it along with Peter Fish.

This theme is composed by Edd Kalehoff and used during the early 1990s. Dan Rather was always thought to be the first network evening news anchor to also anchor a newsmagazine. However, David Brinkley hosted a monthly newsmagazine while also anchoring the Huntley-Brinkley report.

And this is another CBS News experience tag. It is composed by Peter Fish. Fish has written a lot of promotional music for CBS News.