Back to basics for Couric newscast - After one year on the job, experimentation is out at still third-ranked 'CBS Evening News.'

"I didn't come here to do a traditional newscast, and I don't think CBS hired me to do a traditional newscast," she told Reader's Digest in February.

But a year after assuming the venerable anchor desk of "CBS Evening News," that's exactly what Couric finds herself doing, while the news executives who ardently wooed her from NBC's "Today" show have glumly relinquished their hopes of turning a new audience on to an aging genre.

As the high-profile anchor marks her first anniversary at the network on Wednesday, the question hangs heavy over CBS: Can the news division pull its flagship broadcast out of third place with its once-blithe anchor now buttoned up?

"You have to ask the question, does that fit Katie's strong suit?" asked Rick Keilty, senior vice president of Dallas-based Belo Corp., which owns four CBS affiliates. "I think the personality of the individual is a really important ingredient, and that's what's challenging about what they're attempting to do."

CBS has not planned anything to commemorate Couric's first year at the anchor desk; instead, she's anchoring the broadcast this week from Iraq and Syria, part of an effort to burnish her news credentials.

The mood couldn't be more different from last September, when the network was bursting with expectations that its high-wattage anchor would reinvigorate a staid format, draw scores of new viewers and propel the newscast out of third place.

But the program's looser tone -- for a time, Couric opened the half-hour by saying, "Hi, everyone" -- and its feature-heavy lineup turned off many longtime watchers. A year into her tenure, the broadcast's audience has shrunk by 8%, and the median viewer age has dropped to just 59.9 from 60.7.

Audience resistance

Sean McManus, president of the news division, said he has largely given up on luring in a different demographic.

"I really believed that it was possible if we did a different kind of newscast, that we could attract some newer and younger viewers," he said. "I didn't think we anticipated as well as we probably should have the resistance to change on the part of the viewing audience for the 6:30 newscast.

"At this point in history, it's probably not worth taking those chances," he added. "You're better off sticking to basics."