NOW the replacement anchors are retiring.

Interim anchor Bob Schieffer, who took over from Dan Rather last March, says he will retire on his 70th birthday – which is 22 months away.

“I want to leave while there’s still a few people in the audience applauding,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Schieffer has been a popular successor to Rather, and some people inside and outside of CBS have been urging that he get the anchor job permanently.

No way, says Schieffer.

“I’ve made up my mind,” he says.

“It’s enough. I’ve had all the jobs. I’ve had a lot of fun. I owe this to my wife,” he told the paper. “I want a few years to do some things with her.”

That means that CBS has a two years to experiment with alternatives to what officials call the single, “voice of God” anchor.