After more than 50 years of broadcasting on 'CBS News' and '60 Minutes,' I have decided to retire. It's been a wonderful run, but the time has come to say goodbye to all of my friends at CBS and the dozens of people who kept me on the air.

What does it say about us that people who are considered defective are instinctively caring and compassionate?

Artie was there from the beginning, a whirlwind of energy, as passionate about the look of 60 Minutes as we all were about the substance. Through the decades he never became jaded, never faltered, never lost his exuberance for giving everything he touched a special touch of class.

A lot of sponsors over the years have left us. They've all come back. But they chose to leave us for a while because of stories we have done about them or their products or their friend's products or whatever.

We are on Sunday night because that is where they put us 30-odd years ago. I think we became a habit.

So much crap passes as information that not only does the audience sometimes miss the distinction between news and crap, the editors sometimes miss the distinction.