Wake County Schools Superintendent Tony Tata says voters need to "cowboy up" to pass a school construction bond issue next year to maintain the area's quality of life.

Tata, school board member Chris Malone and Wake County Commissioner Tony Gurley spoke out about the likely 2013 bond referendum on WRAL's On The Record show that aired Saturday. Bill Leslie, the show's moderator, asked Tata how "catastrophic" it would be if the bond issue was defeated.

"From my point of view, the capacity issues we've got right now are a challenge," Tata answered. "So if we can't get through a bond and get construction money, we're going to have to re-attack it again very quickly because it's just not even in the realm of conceivability that we're not going to be able to construct the schools because we're projected to have 200,000 students in the next nine years."

Monday's noon newscast will be the final one at WRAL for Pam Saulsby.

The station announced last month that Saulsby would be leaving the station at the end of October after 20 years there. Saulsby was replaced in the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts by Debra Morgan, and has been anchoring WRAL's noon newscast with Bill Leslie since the announcement.

Jackie Hyland, most recently from WPIX in New York, took Morgan's place in the 5:30 and 10 p.m. newscasts with Gerald Owens on Fox 50.

Saulsby's departure was announced as part of other changes at the station, including a new set and upgraded weather system.

There's no word yet on who will co-anchor the noon newscast with Leslie.

WRAL-TV is in the middle of major renovations right now, and the changes aren't limited to fresh sheetrock and high-tech touch screens.

The biggest change comes at the anchor desk. Longtime anchor Pam Saulsby is leaving WRAL after 20 years at the station. Her final evening broadcasts will be this week.

According to a WRAL press release, Debra Morgan will take Saulsby's place with David Crabtree at 5 and 6 p.m. on weeknights. Morgan has been with WRAL for 18 years.

Morgan will also continue to anchor the 11 p.m. news with Gerald Owens, who will co-anchor the 5:30 p.m. newscast with newcomer Jackie Hyland. Owens and Hyland will also anchor the 10 p.m. news on Fox 50.

Raleigh TV station WRAL's news division has had a foot in the music business since at least the 1970s, when John Tesh got his start there before finding later fame as a new-age pianist (and "Entertainment Tonight" anchor). The tradition continues with two new releases from WRAL newscasters.

First up is Bill Leslie, who was Tesh's roommate in Raleigh way back when and nowadays plays Celtic-flavored guitar when he's not reading the news on-camera. Leslie has a new instrumental album out titled "Simple Beauty," and it's picking up a fair amount of radio airplay. The album checks in at No. 1 on the latest ZoneMusicReporter chart for new-age music.

Then there's Pam Saulsby, who goes the jazz-diva route on her first album "The Full Measure of a Woman" -- which has genre standards including "Fever" and "Fly Me to the Moon," but also a jazzy reading of "California Dreamin'." You can hear Salusby sing it live Saturday at Maggiano's Little Italy at Durham's Streets at Southpoint. She also has dates scheduled at The Mint in Raleigh Nov. 13 and at The Umstead in Cary Nov. 20.

ADDENDUM (11/5/10): Well, this is embarrassing. A note from WTVD's Larry Stogner:

[John Tesh] never worked at WRAL. He was at WTVD. I know because I was at WRAL then and Bill Leslie was at WKIX radio.

On The Beat deeply regrets the error.