ABC has announced that Charlie Gibson will retire in January, to be replaced by Diane Sawyer as anchor of the ABC World News evening broadcast. The two had worked together closely since reviving Good Morning America in 1998; Gibson left that program in 2006 to take over ABC World News after Bob Woodruff was injured in Iraq and the network decided to replace his co-anchor, Elizabeth Vargas. Sawyer has long sought the anchor chair, so this must be exciting for her, though ABC now has some big shoes to fill at GMA. In email to his staff, Gibson wrote, "I love this news department, and all who work in it, to the depths of my soul... I have received much comment, and quite a few emails and letters referring to the signoff Eddie Pinder convinced me to use—wishing that everyone has had a good day. But the proudest part for me has been saying '...for all of us at ABC News...', since those words signify in my mind that I have been in a position to speak for an entire news department that I consider second to none." And, after the jump, video of a very giddy Sawyer the day after President Obama's inauguration: