Indiana Broadcast History Archive

Margaret Jane Pauley grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. Born October 31, 1950 to a church organist, her mother Mary Pauley, and her father Richard Pauley – a man in the food distribution business. 

Pauley grew up to attend Warren Central High School, which she led to multiple state championship titles participating in speech and debate teams. She was also Warren Central High School’s representative for Indiana Girl State where she was elected governor. 

Her young high school success brought her to Bloomington, Indiana to study Political Science at Indiana University.  Pauley was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and spent time working in politics during her undergrad. She worked with the Democratic State Central Committee of Indiana and John Lindsay, previous mayor of New York, New York. Pauley graduated with her bachelors degree in 1972. 

Frank Phillippe, a State House Reporter familiar with Pauley, reached out to her with a job opening at WISH-TV, Channel 8 in Indianapolis. Despite being without a degree in journalism or any formal journalism experience, she was hired by General Manager Bob McConnell. 

She was one of very few women with on-air anchoring experience for her age, even winning an Associated Press Award during her time in Indianapolis. When there was a lead anchor vacancy for weekday evening news, Pauley had filled in, co-anchoring with Mike Ahern. While Ahern and Pauley brought WISH-TV a number-one rank in the ratings for the first time, she did not receive a promotion to permanently fill the opening. A decision which was made by the ownership of WISH-TV (located in New York City) who didn’t feel that Indianapolis was ready for a female anchor in the major weekday news broadcast. 

The Indianapolis-500 brought crowds and crowds of people into the city for race weekend. Pauley prepared for this Saturday news-cast with expectations of broadcasting to a new, large and important audience. The week following race day, Jane Pauley answered the phone to a call from the news director of WMAQ in Chicago. 

Jane Pauley took a flight into Chicago for a short, under 24-hour stay, where she interviewed for the co-anchor position WMAQ was hiring for. After returning to Indianapolis confident of her success in her interview, she was disappointed to not get a returning phone call. That was until a newspaper gossip columnist published saying WMAQ would be hiring a female anchor from Indianapolis. Pauley would receive the phone call a few days later. NBC reached out to WISH-TV requesting they break her contract, and that was when Jane Pauley officially moved into the Chicago news market, the second largest in the nation. She was the first female anchor on an evening newscast in Chicago.

Jane Pauley’s transition into Chicago was a large career promotion, yet only lasted ten months before she received an even larger offer. She received an invitation to sub in for Betty Furness on NBC’s “Today” show. Furness was only temporarily filling in for Barbara Walters who had left the morning show for a position with ABC. This substitution would be Pauley’s first national television debut. The night before she discovered, once again through the newspaper, that she was “one of five women auditioning for Barbara Walters’ job.” Her performance earned her the job, and Pauley moved into the New York City news scene in 1976 at 25 years old. 

Tom Brokaw was Pauley’s first anchor at the Today show, from 1976 to December of 1981. Bryan Gumbel would then join her on January 4, 1982. In 1985, she and Gumbel were named co-broadcasters of the year by the International Radio and Television Society. The NBC Today show offered many opportunities to travel the world reporting. Pauley would broadcast from places including the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana and the Great Wall of China, and was able to cover major news events. 

While with NBC, Pauley also anchored the Sunday edition of the Nightly News from 1980 to 1982. 

During her 13 year tenure with the Today show, Pauley met and married Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau. Jane Pauley would become a symbol for working mothers in 1983, after she gave birth to twins. Her pregnancy was followed heavily by the media. 

NBC executives claimed that Pauley returned from maternity leave more relaxed and more assured. The executive producer spoke saying, “Jane Pauley has never been better. Now, whether that’s because she became a mother or had three months off and had time to think, or because she’s really comfortable in her job, I don’t know.” Steve Friedman, NBC Today show’s executive producer, declared this in response to Pauley’s second pregnancy announcement, which came in 1986. It was said that her family life gave her a release from  her job and gave her reassurance that she wasn’t meant for full-time motherhood. A 1986 piece from the Los Angeles Times claims that she thrives on career and family, not one or the other; Pauley saying “I’m just not that good at staying home. I admire some friends who have made that choice and do it really well. I wouldn’t be bad. I’d be mediocre at best.” 

“Jane Pauley has never been better. Now, whether that’s because she became a mother or had three months off and had time to think, or because she’s really comfortable in her job, I don’t know.”

Steve Friedman, NBC Today Show executive producer

NBC’s Today show held great success during Pauley’s time as co-anchor. It was towards the end of 1985 which the Today show tied with ABC’s Good Morning America in the rankings, but triumphed over its competition for the first time in the beginning weeks of 1986. 

Deborah Norville was hired by NBC in 1989 which was followed by two months of speculation that she would be replacing Jane Pauley as co-anchor on the Today show. A staff transition that “raised eyebrows.” An announcement was made October 27, 1989 that Jane Pauley would be leaving the Today show after 13 years, but not NBC entirely, after several weeks of negotiations. An article published in the Washington Post the day after Pauley’s televised resignation, they recognized the way she absolved Norville and Gumbel of any complicity in her departure. She said, “It has hurt to see two of my friends, Bryant and Deborah, assigned roles in this that they did not play. I’ll have to say that what I am going to miss most is the pleasure I have taken in working with you.” Her last broadcast was in December of 1989. Pauley also commented, in reference to her departure, to LIFE Magazine that “Choosing to go was surely better than being told to go.” 

“It has hurt to see two of my friends, Bryant and Deborah, assigned roles in this that they did not play. I’ll have to say that what I am going to miss most is the pleasure I have taken in working with you.”

Jane Pauley, October 27, 1989

In February 1990, an article published by the New York Magazine reported that since January of 1990, NBC’s Today show suffered a 10% loss in audience. Six months later in June of 1990, New York Magazine published another article, titled “Back From the Brink, Jane Pauley Has Become America’s Favorite Newswoman” – this time reporting that in the one-year period from February 1989 to February 1990, the Today show lost an estimated $10 million due to a 22% slump in ratings. 

Pauley received thousands of letters of fan mail after her very public departure from the Today show. The leave acquired her both the cover of the December 1989 issue of LIFE Magazine and the July 1990 cover of the New York Magazine. 

On March 13, 1990 NBC’s primetime special “Changes: Conversations with Jane Pauley” aired – Pauley’s first time back on air. Pauley’s one-hour special told the stories of four individuals with sad beginnings, but happy endings.

“Real Life with Jane Pauley” a primetime news magazine aired on July 17th, 1990. Pauley didn’t want a traditional news program of investigative stories and high-profile interviews, but instead one that focuses on the mundane – Pauley’s personal fascination with the changing patterns of American life. “Real Life with Jane Pauley” shortly ended in 1991. 

On March 31, 1992, NBC launched another attempt at a prime time newsmagazine - “Dateline.” Pauley anchored “Dateline” with co-host Stone Phillips. Although Jane Pauley resigned from the programming in 2003, “Dateline” is still one of the most successful primetime shows in television history. 

During Pauley’s time with “Dateline” she anchored “Time and Again” – a half-hour show for MSNBC which was composed of major previously aired news stories from the NBC News Archives. 

Her resignation was unexpected to most of NBC. Pauley shared that, “I think women think a lot about cycles, biological and personal. This year another cycle came around: my contract was up. It seemed an opportunity to take a life audit. I keep walking by bookstores and seeing titles talking about second acts in life.” 

“I think women think a lot about cycles, biological and personal. This year another cycle came around: my contract was up. It seemed an opportunity to take a life audit. I keep walking by bookstores and seeing titles talking about second acts in life.” 

Jane Pauley

About eight years into Pauley’s tenure with “Dateline,” the anchor faced what she considers the greatest challenge of her life. Jane Pauley was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder in 2000 at the age of 50. A few months prior to her diagnoses, Pauley dealt with chronic recurrent idiopathic urticaria edema (hives) and doctors believe the steroids she was prescribed for treatment “kick-started” her bipolar disorder. She shared, “I knew that people broke down and I had no reason to think I was any different. I always knew, I always suspected that a run of good luck that I had couldn’t go on forever, and I wondered what it would be like. I had reason to be prepared for heart disease, cancer, financial reversals. But when it turned out to be bipolar…” 

As challenging as her diagnosis was, Jane Pauley used her journey to help break the stigma of mental illness. In 2004, Jane Pauley became a New York Times best-selling author with her memoir, “Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue” which publicly discussed her diagnosis and battle with mental illness. Pauley said that to openly talk about it was “the easiest decision” she ever made. 

In 2004, Pauley returned to television with “The Jane Pauley Show” which was a daytime talk show. The programming was canceled after one season. Pauley accredits her single season in daytime television as the hardest and proudest year of her life. 

Also in 2004, Entertainment Television presented a profile on Pauley as part of its "True Hollywood Story" series.

Fearing at 54 years old that her television career would be coming to an end, she began working on a new project. In 2009, Pauley began a series about reinventing your life in your 50s and ran on the “Today” show for four years. Titled “Your Life Calling” and sponsored by AARP, Jane Pauley profiled individuals around America in their 50s reinventing their lives. “Your Life Calling” led to the publishing of Pauley’s second New York Times best selling book – “Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life.” 

“Your Life Calling” ended in 2013, which transitioned into Pauley’s next endeavor. In 2014 Pauley joined “CBS Sunday Morning” as a correspondent and occasional guest host. Pauley was selected to replace previous program’s permanent host – Charles Osgood – in 2016, making her the only female anchor of CBS Sunday Morning programming. Pauley still anchors CBS Sunday Morning every weekend. 

Jane Pauley works in health and wellness advocacy in her home state of Indiana with the Jane Pauley Community Health Centers; as well as her work with the McGovern Institute at MIT. Pauley accredits her diagnosis with giving her a purpose. 

Throughout her career, Pauley has been awarded two Daytime Emmy Awards (2015 and 2019), News and Documentary Emmy Award (2002), Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, Radio and Television News Directors Association’s Paul White Award for Lifetime Contribution to Electronic Journalism, Edward R Murrow Award for Outstanding Achievement, Broadcast and Cable Hall of Fame (1998), Broadcaster of the Year (1995), Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding Achievement by an Individual from American Women in Radio and Television, the first International Matrix Award from the Association for Women in Communications (1998), and the National Alliance on Mental Illness Rana and Ken Purdy Award. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

By Grace Romine

Last update, August 2024

Information from Los Angeles Times, Sun-Sentinel, The Washington Post, New York Times, BPHope, Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame