Katie Couric bid us adieu last week. The bye-byes to Oprah start today, and culminate Wednesday.

And tonight marks the final appearance of Mary Hart on "Entertainment Tonight."

Hart has been with the show since 1982, and will replaced by a younger blonde, former "Access Hollywood" host Nancy O'Dell.

According to TVSpy, during the final show taped yesterday, Hart's former co-hosts Bob Goen, Rob Weller and NC State grad (and WTVD alum) John Tesh, surprised her.

"ET" and Mary helped turn pop culture and, more pointedly, celebrity culture into mainstream news. (You may not want to thank her for that, but it is what it is.) She's also famous for her gams; her legs were once insured for $1 million each.

In a couple of weeks, we'll be waving to the Today show's Meredith Viera too. Sigh.

Good luck, Mary!

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.

They just don't make 'em like Pat Patterson anymore. A longtime veteran of the radio waves, Patterson has spent more than 40 of his 55 years in radio on various Triangle radio stations, often in the high-profile morning-drive-time slot. And in recognition of his decades on the air, Patterson recently picked up a primo honor. Check here for the details.