NBC Skip goodbye party, Brokaw urges network

The newsman will stay at NBC to do specials and will also travel.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Tom Brokaw to NBC: Ditch the bash.
When Brokaw steps down as anchor of top-rated "NBC Nightly News" on Dec. 1, there won't be a big blowout "if I have anything to say about it," he said this week, after NBC confirmed the date.
"I hate goodbye parties," says Brokaw, 63. "I'd rather the money and psychic energy be spent on the Tom Brokaw Scholarship Fund at NBC."
NBC announced in May '02 that Brokaw would leave as anchor after the presidential elections in November '04, and that colleague Brian Williams, 45, as long rumored, would be his successor.
That hastily arranged news conference with both men was awkward, to be kind, and it still bothers Brokaw.
"There was an awful lot of excitement to hear that two white guys who make a hell of a lot of money were going to be around for a while. This was not the transfer of some sovereign power or the death of John Lennon."
Brokaw, the first of the Big 3 anchors to walk away, took over "Nightly" on Sept. 2, 1983 -- three days before Peter Jennings stepped up at ABC. The dean, CBS's Dan Rather, debuted March 9, 1981.
His plans
Focusing on specials, Brokaw will remain at NBC. Locking down his Dec. 1 anchor departure date "doesn't really alter it much for me. I've had this in my mind for the last year and a half.
"I've been so consumed with what's going on in the world, I haven't had much 'touchy-feely' time. As I get closer to the date, it will probably be more emotional for me."
Passing the baton Dec. 1 "gives Brian a running start, so he can be in the chair before the holidays and get ready for the [presidential] inauguration. And I can do some of the things I've wanted to do, personally, without fear of being summoned back."
Those personal pleasures include a trip to San Francisco to see his two granddaughters and an adventure trek to Patagonia, at the southern tip of South America, "one of my favorite wild places in the world."
Brokaw says he feels a strong bond with his viewers because they share so many values. He's confident they'll understand why he wants to end his run without a parade.
"I don't feel I'm more important than the news. I'll step aside, as others have stepped aside before me -- Chet Huntley, Walter Cronkite, [legendary New York Times columnist] Scotty Reston.
"This is all part of phases and stages. We ought not to make it more important than, in fact, it is."