NEW YORK ( CNN ) -- Diane Sawyer will take over nightly news anchor duties for ABC when Charlie Gibson retires from `` World News '' at the end of this year , a network spokesman confirmed Wednesday . Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer worked together on `` Good Morning America . '' Sawyer , 63 , will be the second woman to be the solo host of an evening newscast for an American broadcast TV network . Sawyer will take the chair in January , ABC 's Jeffrey Schneider said . Gibson , 66 , and Sawyer worked together for years on ABC 's morning show -- `` Good Morning America '' -- before Gibson was promoted over Sawyer to anchor ABC 's `` World News '' in May 2006 . Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff co-anchored the newscast before Gibson . That duo came to an end after Woodruff was seriously wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq . Maria Brennan , president of the Washington-based American Women in Radio and Television organization , called the announcement a `` watershed moment '' and said Sawyer was the `` obvious choice '' to take over ABC 's anchor chair . Asked about the significance of two out of three network nightly news anchors being women -- the other being CBS ' Katie Couric -- Brennan said , `` It comes with some excitement and some glee for groups like ours , who have worked for years to ensure that women have parity with their male counterparts . '' `` When we get to a point in time when we do n't even notice the gender , we can really celebrate , '' Brennan said . Sawyer worked for President Richard Nixon in the 1970s , first in his White House press office and later helping him write his memoirs after his resignation . After a stint with CBS News -- including five years as a `` 60 Minutes '' correspondent -- Sawyer joined ABC News in 1989 . She worked on news magazines for ABC -- including `` Primetime Live '' and `` 20/20 '' -- before being assigned to co-host `` Good Morning America '' with Gibson in 1999 . CNN 's Albert Lewintinn contributed to this report .
ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson retiring at end of the year . Diane Sawyer will take over `` World News '' beginning in January . The pair worked together for years on `` Good Morning America ''