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Good Morning America is a weekday morning news show that is broadcasted on the ABC television network. The show was launched in 1975. The show features news, talk, weather, and special interest stories. It is recorded live from Times Square Studios in New York City and fed to all network affiliates. It was the first network morning news program to broadcast in HDTV (rival The Today Show began broadcasting in HDTV beginning on September 13, 2006). The program is currently hosted by Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts. Longtime anchor Charles Gibson left the program on June 28, 2006 to become the lead anchor at ABC News. When major events happen in Washington during the morning hours, then the show is often broadcast from Washington D.C. Early years In January 1975, ABC launched AM America in an attempt to compete with the NBC of The Today Show hosted by Jim Hartz and Barbara Walters. ABC's show was hosted by Bill Beutel and Stephanie Edwards, with Peter Jennings reading the news. The show could not find an audience against The Today Show, so ABC started to look for a new approach. While looking around, they found that one of their affiliates, WEWS in Cleveland, Ohio, was not broadcasting A.M. America but instead was airing a locally produced show called The Morning Exchange. Unlike A.M. America and The Today Show, 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. The show's creators, Donald L. Perris and William F. Baker, felt the living room set would make viewers feel more comfortable. The result of all of this was ratings of nearly 70% for The Morning Exchange. ABC took an episode of The Morning Exchange and used it as a pilot episode. After rave reviews for the pilot, the format replaced A.M. America in November 1975 as Good Morning America, taking its title from the chorus of the Steve Goodman song "City of New Orleans". Good Morning Americas first host was David Hartman, featuring Nancy Dussault as his co-host. Dussault was replaced in 1977 by Sandy Hill. GMA 1976-1980 Good Morning America ratings climbed slowly but steadily throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s while The Today Show experienced a slight slump in viewership, especially with Walters' decision to leave NBC for a job at ABC. On August 29, 1976, Tom Brokaw began anchoring The Today Show while a search was made for a female co-host. Within a year, The Today Show managed to beat back the Good Morning America ratings threat with Brokaw and new co-host Jane Pauley, featuring art and entertainment contributor Gene Shalit. GMA 1980s Good Morning America continued to threaten The Today Show into the 1980s, especially after Brokaw left Today to become NBC Nightly News co-anchor with Roger Mudd for 2 years before being named sole anchor. For the first time, Good Morning America became the highest rated morning news program in the United States as The Today Show fell to second place. Format evolves In the beginning of Good Morning America, it was a talk program with a main host, David Hartman, who was joined by a sidekick co-host. Nancy Daussault and Sandy Hill were scripted as less than equal hosts. In 1980, Hill left Good Morning America and was replaced by Joan Lunden, an anchor for WABC in New York. Hartman and Lunden led the show through several seasons of success. The partnership ended in February 1987 as Hartman retired. Lunden was paired with Charles Gibson and ratings skyrocketed for Good Morning America. They became the most popular news partnership on television in the late 1980s and early 1990s and won the ratings battle against NBC's The Today Show. CBS joins the fray In the 1970s and 1980s, the CBS television network, aired only hard news stories during the morning time slot shared by Good Morning America and The Today Show. CBS became more competitive in the morning news talk show ratings battle, and later launched CBS Morning, using the same format used on Good Morning America and The Today Show. It was hosted by Charles Kuralt and Diane Sawyer. In 1983, CBS This Morning beat The Today Show and took the second place spot after Good Morning America. Lunden's popularity with viewers made the format to two equal co-anchors become necessary. David Hartman was no longer the main host of the program. GMA 1990s
GMA 1999-Present
Good Morning America Radio In January 2006, Good Morning America launched a radio edition of the program on XM Radio Take Five. The show would incorporate features and news from the television edition as well as allow fans to discuss these topics. The radio edition of the show is hosted by Hilarie Barksy and airs Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to Noon Eastern Time. International broadcasts Contributors Current Hosts Past Hosts See also | |||||||||||
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