It switched to NBC Universal in 1998, shortening the show’s name. In 1986, he was the inaugural anchor of the entertainment news program, “A Current Affair,” and began “The Maury Povich Show” for Paramount in 1991. For a while in Los Angeles, his co-anchor was journalist Connie Chung, whom he married in 1984.

He anchored local news shows in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Povich was a television journalist before going into the talk show world, beginning in Washington, where his father, Shirley, was a well-known sportswriter. ‘Maury’ began as ‘The Maury Povich Show’ in 1991. It wasn’t highbrow entertainment, but was popular enough for Povich to build a devoted audience among viewers young enough to be his grandchildren. His show hit upon a successful formula many years ago and has stuck with it: using tests to reveal, on the air, the father of babies where paternity is in question or lie detectors to see if a spouse is cheating or not. “I’m so proud of my relationship with NBC Universal and all those who worked on the ‘Maury’ show but as I occasionally tell my guests on ‘Maury,’ enough already,” he said. Old episodes are likely to live on in some form, however, with the company saying that “the show has thousands of lively, entertaining and dramatic episodes that will continue to be successful in daytime for years to come.” NBC Universal confirmed the impending exit of the 83-year-old Povich on Monday. NEW YORK - Veteran daytime talk show host Maury Povich is retiring, with the last original episodes of “Maury” set for broadcast in September after 31 years on the air. Sherri Shepherd ignores your negative posts: ‘I don’t like being driven batty’ Kelly Ripa on Regis Philbin ‘feud’: ‘You can’t make a person befriend you’ Rachael Ray taking her show to Ukraine: ‘Makes me cry to think about it’ And that’s what you get day in and day out is consistency, and that’s key.Joy Behar talks retirement plans during 80th birthday celebration

“And he pushed you toward excellence all the time. He helped prepare me to become a news director,” said King. NBC Universal announced that Maury Povich would retire from his daytime talk show after 31 years on the air. He helped prepare me to succeed in this business. He helped prepare me to become the journalist that I am today.

“I got to work next to him for 19 years, and it was an incredible 19 year run. He also taught news writing at the college level, and I think not only was it good for him, but many, many young journalists coming through got the benefit of his experience and his passion for just good journalism.”

“And also not only that, when he became more of a mentor and kind of would oversee reporters and their scripts. “Walt has worn a lot of hats around the building, but I think he really hit his stride, hit his niche when he became the main anchor,” said Doppler Dave Oliver. Walt launched the careers of dozens of other journalists in the business while at NewsChannel 10 and during his time teaching at Amarillo College for 20 years. “I think that this community has been so incredibly blessed that he chose to stay in this community for so many decades and dedicate his career to telling stories of the communities of the Panhandle area,” said Kari King, former co-anchor with Walt Howard.

News anchor retires