 NBC, in turn, was ready to offer "The Tonight Show" to Carson's most frequent guest host at the time, Richard Dawson.Eventually, Carson reached an agreement that paid $25 million a year while reducing his workload from 90 to 60 minutes, with new shows airing only three nights a week 37 weeks a year (a guest host would appear Monday nights and for most of Carson's 15 weeks of vacation and "Best of Carson" reruns would air Tuesdays) and also give him ownership of the show, as well as its back catalog, and of the time slot following the "Tonight Show" which became "Late Night with David Letterman" produced by Carson Productions.In September 1980, Carson's eponymous production company gained ownership of the show after owning it from 1969 to the early 1970s.