IU alum Jane Pauley leaves NBC

NEW YORK -- Jane Pauley, who began her NBC career as a 25-year-old "Today" show anchor and has been "Dateline NBC" host for a decade, said Thursday she's quitting in June to pursue new opportunities.\nAt 52, Pauley said the time was right to try a second career. Her contract with NBC expires in June.\n"I expect that television will figure in my future in some way," she said. "It's less what I want to do than how I want to do it. I have some entrepreneurial instincts. I think the idea of being my own boss is appealing."\nHer departure will leave NBC News with a hole to fill at a time when "Dateline NBC" and most newsmagazines are sagging in the ratings. Pauley and Stone Phillips are the only two hosts the show had known.\nPauley was plucked from a Chicago newscast in 1976 to be co-host of "Today" with Tom Brokaw. Bryant Gumbel replaced Brokaw in 1982 and, with Pauley, formed a team that led "Today" past ABC's "Good Morning America" to ratings dominance.\nWhen NBC executives, seeking a fresher face, replaced Pauley with Deborah Norville in 1989, they badly underestimated Pauley's popularity and the move backfired.\nNBC gave Pauley her own newsmagazine and, after that failed, she settled in at "Dateline" in 1992.\nHer restlessness was foreshadowed when she took a six-month leave that ended on Sept. 10, 2001. She worked on a book about her career that she's yet to finish.\nPauley surprised NBC executives with her wishes after they broached the subject of another contract. NBC News President Neal Shapiro, former "Dateline NBC" executive producer, took her to lunch and gently prodded her about whether she was serious.\n"I have known Jane long enough to know that when she gets an idea, she gets an idea, and you have to respect that," Shapiro said.\nPauley said there was no unhappiness with her job, or NBC, that prompted her move.\n"This would not have been a good 'Dateline' story," she said. "While it did have a good character and the topic was relatable, what it lacked was conflict."\nShapiro said he would explore all options about replacing, or not replacing, Pauley on "Dateline." With reality TV all the rage, "Dateline" faces the prospect of being cut back from its current three-night-a-week schedule this fall.\nAlthough she's had some talks with TV producers and publishers, Pauley said she's taking a leap of faith about her future.