An engineer had saved the fragment from the Anchor Ranch test site, in Los Alamos.
Those offers could include a continuing role in news away from the anchor chair.
Under questioning from the anchor in New York, Rivera finally admitted, coyly, that he was carrying a gun.
Now totally safe, I was able to relax, lean back from the anchor and appreciate the surrounding Owens River Gorge.
The report, which extended to almost an entire minute, concluded with this delectably nuanced analysis from the anchor.
Since his retirement from the anchor position in 2004 Mr. Brokaw, 68, has remained active at NBC News, producing documentaries and occasional reports for the evening newscast.
Whether that line was crossed in Bangor still wasn't entirely clear several days after Ms. Michaels and Mr. Consiglio stood up from the anchor desk.
"Is there anything more you can tell us?" was the desperate refrain from the anchor to the reporter in the field.
(And if, for technical reasons, he has to work from the anchor desk, he appears in a tie for the whole program).
Jennings, known for his strong reporting in the field and calm erudition from the anchor desk, died August 7, at age 67.
And her departure from the anchor chair will leave the major TV networks' evening news programs without a female anchor for the first time since 2006, when Katie Couric became the anchor of CBS Evening News.
