Good Morning America

Good Morning America
File:Gma title.png Good Morning America logo used since May 3, 2010
Created by	Donald L. Perris William F. Baker
Presented by	Weekday Edition Robin Roberts (2005–present) George Stephanopoulos (2009–present) Juju Chang (2009–present) Sam Champion (2006–present) Weekend Edition Bianna Golodryga (2010–present) Dan Harris (2010–present) Ron Claiborne (2004–present)
Country of origin	Template:TVUS
No. of episodes	8,779
Production
Production locations	Times Square Studios New York, New York
Running time	120 minutes (weekday ABC telecast) 60 minutes (weekend ABC telecast)
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	November 3, 1975 (1975-11-03) – present

Template:Fix bunching Good Morning America (GMA) is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now. Its current one-hour weekend edition débuted in 2004.

The program features news, talk, weather and special-interest stories. The program is produced by the ABC News division for the network and broadcasts from the Times Square Studios in Times Square, New York City.

The program is hosted by Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos. Longtime co-anchor Charles Gibson left the program on June 28, 2006, to become the anchor of ABC World News, and Diane Sawyer left the program on December 11, 2009, to anchor the evening news program after Gibson retired.

GMA has traditionally run second in the ratings to NBC's Today since 1995, but overtook its rival for a period from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s under the anchor team of Gibson and Joan Lunden. GMA won the first three Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Morning Program, sharing the inaugural 2007 award with Today and winning the 2008 and 2009 awards outright. In 2011 GMA moved from it's street view studio to a studio with a street view on Tv's

History

1975: The inaugural year

On January 6, 1975, ABC launched AM America in an attempt to compete with NBC's Today. ABC's show was hosted by Bill Beutel and Stephanie Edwards, with Peter Jennings and Robert Kennedy reading the news. Because the show could not find an audience against Today (and its anchor team of Jim Hartz and Barbara Walters), ABC sought a new approach. They found that one of their affiliates, WEWS in Cleveland, Ohio, was not broadcasting AM America but instead was airing a locally produced show The Morning Exchange.

Unlike AM America and Today, The Morning Exchange featured an easygoing and less-dramatic approach by offering news and weather updates only at the top and bottom of every hour and used the rest of the time to discuss general-interest/entertainment topics. The Morning Exchange also established a group of regular guests who were experts in certain fields such as health, entertainment, consumer affairs, travel, etc. Also unlike both the NBC and ABC shows, The Morning Exchange was not broadcast from a newsroom set but instead one that resembled a suburban living room.

ABC took an episode of The Morning Exchange and used it as a pilot episode. After rave reviews for the pilot, the format replaced AM America in November 1975 as Good Morning America. GMA's first host was David Hartman, featuring Nancy Dussault as his co-host. Dussault was replaced in 1977 by Sandy Hill.

1976–1989: Growth and change

The program's ratings climbed slowly but steadily throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s while Today experienced a slight slump in viewership, especially with Walters's decision to leave NBC for a job at ABC News. On August 30, 1976, Tom Brokaw began anchoring Today while a search was made for a female co-host. Within a year, Today managed to beat back the GMA ratings threat with Brokaw and new co-host Jane Pauley, featuring art and entertainment contributor Gene Shalit.

GMA continued to threaten Today into the 1980s, especially after Brokaw left Today to become NBC Nightly News co-anchor with Roger Mudd for seventeen months before being named Nightly News's sole anchor. For the first time, GMA became the highest-rated morning news program in the United States as Today fell to second place.

At the outset, GMA was a talk program with a main host, Hartman, who was joined by a sidekick co-host; Dussault and Hill were scripted as less-than-equal hosts. In 1980, Hill left GMA and was replaced by Joan Lunden, then a reporter at ABC's New York City flagship station WABC-TV. Hartman and Lunden led the show through several years of success. Lunden's popularity led to her promotion to co-anchor. The partnership ended on February 20, 1987, when Hartman retired following 3,189 programs.

After Hartman's retirement, Lunden was paired with Gibson on February 23, 1987, and ratings skyrocketed for GMA. They became the most-popular news partnership on television in the late 1980s and early 1990s and, for the first time, GMA regularly won the ratings against Today.

At one time before Spencer Christian's arrival in 1986, forecasts were provided by meteorologist Jerry Hodak via a split screen between the WXYZ-TV studios in Detroit, where Hodak was chief forecaster, and the GMA set in New York City.

1990–1998: Rise and decline

Good Morning America entered the 1990s with its overwhelming ratings success. Gibson and Lunden were a hard team to beat. But GMA stumbled from its top spot in late 1995. Lunden began to discuss working less, and mentioned to network executives that the morning schedule is the hardest in the business. ABC executives promised Lunden a prime time program; Behind Closed Doors would be on the network schedule. On September 5, 1997, Lunden decided to step down after seventeen years on GMA and was replaced by Lisa McRee. The show was almost killed when Gibson, too, left the show to make way for Kevin Newman in 1998. With McRee and Newman as anchors of GMA, long-time viewers switched to Today, whose ratings skyrocketed and have remained at the top spot since the week of December 11, 1995.

January 1999–May 2005: The Gibson–Sawyer period

To revive GMA, which in January 1999 briefly fell to third place among the morning shows, ABC News management selected Shelley Ross from the field of executive producer candidates. As part of Rossʼ proposed changes, Ross lobbied to bring in Diane Sawyer and team her with Charles Gibson, who had been reluctant to return. On January 18, 1999, Ross launched the Gibson-Sawyer team on the air which, during the first full season, had a dramatic increase in viewers while all other network news franchises saw losses. Under Ross, GMA became a competitive 24/7 news operation with more exclusive bookings, west coast updates, new on-screen graphics which included a news ticker and live stock market updates in the west. GMA began originating entire shows from unique locations which, according the Nielsen research, resulted in more people watching and for longer periods of time. GMA became the first originate a live show from an aircraft carrier during wartime (the U.S.S. Enterprise), from the White House (after the Columbine shootings), from the Pentagon (for the reopening of the wing damaged on 9/11), from the Vatican (for the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II) and from the Tower of London (on the 50th anniversary of the Queen Elizabethʼs accession to the throne.) Viewership during this time increasing by nearly 1,000,000 households. Income revenue soared. Although the Today Show remained the king of the morning, the Sawyer, Gibson and Ross team inched close. According to Linda McLoof, executive director of News research at ABC News from 2001 to 2009, “When Shelley left,her viewing momentum was initially sustained, but a season later, the audience began to decline. It is like passing the baton in a relay race.” Antonio Mora anchored the team until March 18, 2002 when he left to anchor at WBBM-TV in Chicago. He was replaced by Robin Roberts, a former ESPN anchor.

The show moved from the ABC News headquarters in Lincoln Square to its present home at the Times Square Studios on September 13, 1999. The new location made it possible for the program to feature a live audience outside the studio.

May 2005–June 2006: The Gibson–Roberts–Sawyer period

On May 23, 2005, ABC News announced that Roberts, the show's news anchor, would be promoted to co-anchor. Previously, she had been regularly substituting for Gibson and Sawyer.

As of 2011, GMA had still not prevailed over Today in the ratings since 1995, although it had a few one-show victories, on the day after Pope John Paul II's funeral, and then with a Mariah Carey concert, both in 2005. GMA has won in timeslots in large markets like New York City, which might have been an indication that the audience was migrating from Today. Recently, however, the viewership gap between Today and GMA has widened again.

On November 3, 2005, GMA celebrated its thirtieth birthday with recaps to 1975 and by decorating Times Square. Former co-hosts Hartman and Lunden, along with former meteorologist Spencer Christian were among the guests of honor. Hartman signed off the show that day with his trademark close "From all of us, make it a good day." On that day GMA became the first morning news show to broadcast in HDTV.

On December 2, 2005, weatherman Tony Perkins left the program; he had been the weather personality since 1999. The last ten minutes of the day's show was dedicated to Perkins, during which he gave thanks to one of the show's producers and a heartfelt goodbye to the three anchors, Gibson, Roberts and Sawyer. Perkins announced that he was going to go home to his family and would be living in Washington, D.C., where he would go back to WTTG-TV, where he was previously a weather personality. He affectionately said to his young child on the air, "Connor, if you're watching, daddy's comin' home." Perkins was replaced by Mike Barz, former morning sports anchor for WGN-TV in Chicago.

Gibson left GMA on June 28, 2006. The program was dedicated to his nineteen years as its anchor and celebrated his move to the anchor chair at ABC World News. Gibson ended his tenure by stating, "For nineteen years, my mornings have been not just good — they've been great."

June 2006–December 2009: The Sawyer–Roberts period

There had been speculation that Sawyer would leave GMA when her contract expired in 2007 because she was coveting the ABC World News anchor job which was given to Gibson. In August 2006, Chris Cuomo was named news anchor. He has since continued his anchoring duties on ABC News's Primetime as well as remaining as ABC News's senior legal correspondent. Meanwhile, Sam Champion was named GMA's new weather anchor as well as ABC News weather editor. Both Cuomo and Champion began their respective duties on the program September 5, 2006, when GMA instituted a new graphics package, and new news area for Cuomo to report the news. Also, beginning on September 13, 2006, GMA introduced a new logo — this time with gold font on a blue background. This logo bore a resemblance to the initial GMA logo that was used up to early 1987, and coincided with the show's conversion to HDTV, the first morning show to convert.

On June 29, 2007, movie critic for the show, Joel Siegel died, at age 63, from complications from colon cancer. The July 9 episode was dedicated to Siegel, with former cast members Hartman, Hill, Lunden, Newman, Christian, Perkins and Gibson all appearing to share their memories.

On July 31, 2007, Roberts announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and that she had discovered the lump in a self-examination while preparing the Siegel tribute episode. She remained as anchor while going through chemotherapy and completed radiation treatments as of March 28, 2008.

File:Gma2007orange.gif

Title card used from October 22, 2007 to May 2, 2010.

On October 22, 2007, GMA introduced its new on-screen appearance. Using much of its old on-screen appearance design features, it went from a basic blue setting to a more orangish-gold setting. GMA's opening changed from the camera zooming in on the hosts while introducing the host, to an opening with new music (by the New York City-based music production company DreamArtists Studios) and a background with the GMA logo falling onto the screen. It also changed its on-screen ticker and bug for the first time in years. The ticker features an orange background with the modified ABC News logo. The bug still featured the time to the left but with an orange back drop with the letters GMA and ABC News.com logo to the right.

On January 15, 2008, during an interview with Sawyer, the actress Diane Keaton admired Sawyer's beauty, stating that if she had lips like Sawyer's, "then I wouldn't have worked on my fucking personality!" She said that she would also be married by now. Keaton quickly apologized for the remark and Sawyer threatened to have her mother "work on your personality with soap in your mouth." FCC officials declined to take action for the inadvertent expletive. Following the death of Michael Jackson, Gibson returned to the GMA anchor desk with Roberts on June 26, 2009, while Sawyer was away.

December 2009 to present: The Roberts-Stephanopoulos period

On September 2, 2009, ABC announced that Gibson would step down as anchor of ABC World News at the end of 2009 with Sawyer being named as his successor. Speculation had been swirling that either Stephanopoulos, news anchor Chris Cuomo, weekend anchor Bill Weir, or World News Saturday anchor David Muir would serve as Sawyer's replacement. ABC News signaled that it wanted to return the show to the original male-female format. Many sources close to show have stated that the network wanted Stephanopoulos for the position, but that Stephanopoulos still wanted to continue his This Week duties. Executives at ABC News were worried that if Stephanopoulos got the position, the entire show would have to be reformatted to fit his journalism style. In the weeks before Sawyer announced she was leaving, the momentum shifted to Cuomo getting the position because of his established chemistry with Roberts. On December 10, 2009, it was announced that Stephanopoulos would replace Sawyer and Juju Chang would replace Cuomo, effective December 14, 2009.

Weekend editions

The first weekend edition of GMA aired on Sundays only from January 3, 1993, to February 28, 1999, hosted by Willow Bay, Aaron Brown, John Hockenberry, Dana King, Lisa McRee, Antonio Mora, Kevin Newman, and Bill Ritter.

ABC found that it needed to start a weekend edition of the program after several incidents between 2001 and 2003 where the network was the last to break news because of its commitment to airing the ABC Kids block on Saturday mornings, the most-serious incident being the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, where the network had to balance the need of breaking the tragic news with the cartoons and teen sitcoms being aired for a young audience while the news broke and federal E/I requirements. The network's affiliates were disappointed in ABC News not providing full coverage, and had to depend on feeds from CNN and APTN News.

The current version debuted September 4, 2004 with Bill Weir & Kate Snow as co-anchors, Ron Claiborne as the news anchor and Marysol Castro as the weather anchor. Castro also reports on a wide range of subjects from lifestyle trends to breaking news and entertainment. In March 2010, Kate Snow left GMA weekend. Various female personalities of ABC News filled in as co-anchor following her departure. It was not until two months later in May 2010 that Bianna Golodryga officially succeeded Snow as the new weekend co-anchor. In August 2010, Bill Weir left GMA weekend for the network’s late-night news program Nightline. His former seat was officially taken over by Dan Harris in October 2010. A month following Weir’s departure, Marysol Castro left the show. Since her departure, meteorologists from various ABC affiliates across the country step in to give the weather report. As of late September 2010, Ron Claiborne the only original cast member remaining from the inception of the current version of GMA weekend in 2004.

The start time for the Saturday and Sunday editions of GMA vary between ABC affiliates, though the standard timeslot for the program is the same as its weekday editions at 7 a.m. in all time zones, and most ABC affiliates air the Saturday edition of GMA immediately before the ABC Kids block and the Sunday edition before This Week.

Whistle-stop tour 2008

Beginning September 2008, the GMA's anchors rode an Amtrak train as part of ABC News's "50 States in 50 Days". The tour's first telecasted stop was in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Good Morning America Radio (2006–2009)

In January 2006, GMA launched a radio edition of the program on XM Radio's Take Five. The show incorporates features and news from the television edition as well as allows fans to discuss these topics. The radio edition is hosted by Hilarie Barksy and aired Monday through Saturday from 8am to Noon ET.

Hosts/anchors

Current hosts

• Robin Roberts, anchor (2005–present)
• George Stephanopoulos, anchor (2009–present)
• Juju Chang, news anchor (2009–present)
• Sam Champion, weather anchor (2006–present)
• Bianna Golodryga, weekend anchor (2010–present)
• Dan Harris, weekend anchor (2010–present)
• Ron Claiborne, weekend news anchor (2004–present)

Past co-hosts

• Nancy Dussault (1975–1977)
• David Hartman (1975–1987)
• Sandy Hill (1977–1980)
• Joan Lunden (1980-1997)
• Charles Gibson (1987–1998) and (1999–2006)
• Lisa McRee (1997–1999)
• Kevin Newman (1998–1999)
• Elizabeth Vargas (1999)
• Cynthia McFadden (1999)
• Connie Chung (1999)
• Diane Sawyer (1999–2009)
• Kate Snow (weekends, 2004–2010)
• Bill Weir (weekends, 2004–2010)

Vargas, McFadden and Chung were interim co-anchors in the weeks between McRee and Sawyer.

Past news anchors

• Steve Bell (November 1975–December 1986)
• Kathleen Sullivan (fill-in, July 1982–December 1986)
• Jed Duvall (January 1987–July 1988)
• Paula Zahn (fill-in, November 1987–February 1990)
• Forrest Sawyer (July 1988–September 1989)
• Mike Schneider (September 1989–February 1993)
• Aaron Brown (fill-in, 1992–1993)
• Morton Dean (February 1993–May 1996)
• Elizabeth Vargas (May 1996–November 1997)
• Kevin Newman (November 1997–May 1998)
• Antonio Mora (May 1998–January 2002)
• Robin Roberts (April 2002–May 2005)
• Chris Cuomo (September 2006–December 2009)

Contributors and correspondents

• Erin Andrews (since 2010)
• Ashleigh Banfield (since 2009), law and justice correspondent
• Hilarie Barksy (radio edition – since 2006)
• Glenn Beck (since 2007)
• Marty Becker (since 1997), veterinarian
• Richard Besser (since 2009), senior medical and health editor
• Abbie Boudreau (since 2010)
• Taryn Winter Brill (since 2008), features correspondent
• Hilary Brown, foreign correspondent
• Mellody Hobson (since 2006), financial contributor
• Tory Johnson (since 2007), workplace contributor
• Elisabeth Leamy (since 2005), Consumer Correspondent
• Emeril Lagasse (since 2006), food contributor
• Cameron Mathison (since 2009), correspondent
• Sara Moulton (since 2006), food contributor
• David Muir (since 2006), correspondent
• Wolfgang Puck (since 2006), food contributor
• Melissa Rycroft (since 2009), correspondent
• Claire Shipman (since 2006), senior national correspondent
• Becky Worley (since 2005), technology editor

International broadcasts

In Australia, the Nine Network, and regional affiliates WIN and NBN, air GMA on Tuesday to Fridays from 3.30-5:00am. Friday's edition airs on Saturday mornings from 4.30-6:00am. The Sunday edition airs on Monday mornings from 4:00-5:00am, and the Saturday version is not broadcast. A national weather map of Australia is during cut-aways to local affiliates for weather information. GMA airs at the same time as NBC's Today on the Seven Network and Network Ten's CBS Early Show. It is unchallenged, ratings wise, in some regional areas where other affiliates preempt their networks' US breakfast programs with paid and religious programming.

Orbit Showtime airs GMA on its America Plus channel from Mondays through Fridays live at 11:00 GMT / 1300 CET in the Middle East and Europe.

Awards

In 2010, Good Morning America was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding TV Journalism Segment" for the segment "Total Transformation: Why Chaz Bono Decided to Change" during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards.

See also

• ABC News
• Breakfast television

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• Good Morning America Weekend Edition
• List of years in television

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External links

• abcnews.go.com/gma, official website
• GMA Viewers Blog And Forum
• Good Morning America at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• Good Morning America show on YouTube