Farewell, Mark McEwen

(CBS)  Today marks the end of an era at CBS. After 16 years in morning television, Mark McEwen is leaving The Early Show for new challenges.

McEwen was the weather and entertainment reporter for The Early Show for the last two years. He has been contributing to morning television news for CBS since 1987, taking on a variety of roles after joining The Morning Program that year.

McEwen contributed news features and interviews in addition to serving as the weather reporter for This Morning. He was named entertainment editor in November 1992, after having been the popular music editor for the broadcast since April 1988. He was co-anchor of This Morning from 1996.

Before joining CBS News, McEwen was co-host of the WNEW-FM New York morning radio show for more than three years.

McEwen has interviewed many prominent newsmakers, including President Bill Clinton, former President George Bush, former President Gerald Ford, Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Sidney Poitier, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Garth Brooks, Tom Hanks, Madonna, and Joni Mitchell.

He has covered events including the Oscars, the Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Globe awards, the Grammy awards, and the Country Music Association awards for This Morning.

McEwen hosted one of CBS News' critically acclaimed Class Of 2000 primetime/ specials (January 1997) and hosted the 1996 Emmy award-winning special Tony Bennet: Live By Request on A&E.

McEwen was named one of the country's "Ten Most Trusted TV News Personalities" in a TV Guide survey in February 1995. He also received the Country Music Association's award for Electronic Media Journalist of the Year in 1992.

McEwen has contributed to CBS News' 48 Hours and reported from Albertville, France, and Lillehammer, Norway, during CBS Sports' coverage of the 1992 and 1994 Olympic Winter Games.

He was born Sept. 16, 1954 in San Antonio, Texas, and raised in Berlin, Germany; Montgomery, Alabama; and Crownsville, Maryland. He attended the University of Maryland.