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''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. The Sunday edition was canceled in 1999; weekend editions returned on both Saturdays and Sundays on September 4, 2004. The weekday and Saturday programs airs from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. in all United States timezones (live in the
Eastern Time Zone The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a smal ...
and on broadcast delay elsewhere across the country). The Sunday editions are an hour long and are transmitted to ABC's stations live at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time, although stations in some
media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
s air them at different times. Viewers in the Pacific Time Zone receive an updated feed with a specialized opening and updated live reports. A third hour of the weekday broadcast aired from 2007 to 2008, exclusively on ABC News Now. The program features news, interviews, weather forecasts, special-interest stories, and feature segments such as "Pop News" (featuring
popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
and entertainment news, and viral video), the "GMA Heat Index" (featuring a mix of entertainment, lifestyle and human-interest stories) and "Play of the Day" (featuring a selected viral video or television program clip). It is produced by ABC News and broadcasts from the Times Square Studios in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
's Times Square district. The primary anchors are Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and former New York Giants defensive end and former '' Live'' co-host Michael Strahan with breaking news anchor Amy Robach, entertainment anchor Lara Spencer and weather anchor
Ginger Zee Ginger Renee Colonomos (née Zuidgeest; born January 13, 1981), known by her pseudonym Ginger Zee, is an American television personality. She is the chief meteorologist for ABC News, after having been the network's weekend meteorologist. Earl ...
. ''Good Morning America'' has been the most watched morning show in total viewers and key demos each year since summer 2012. ''GMA'' generally placed second in the ratings, behind NBC's '' Today'', from 1995 to 2012. It overtook its rival for a period from the early to mid-1980s with anchors David Hartman and Joan Lunden, from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s with Charles Gibson and Lunden, and in April 2012 with Roberts and Stephanopoulos. ''Good Morning America'' won the first three
Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...
for "Outstanding Morning Program", sharing the inaugural 2007 award with ''Today'' and winning the 2008 and 2009 awards outright.


History


1975: The inaugural year

On January 6, 1975, ABC launched ''
AM America ''AM America'' was a morning news program produced by ABC in an attempt to compete with the highly rated ''Today'' on NBC. Premiering on January 6, 1975, the show never found an audience against ''Today'' or the CBS combo of the ''CBS Morning Ne ...
'' in an attempt to compete with NBC's '' Today''. The program was hosted by Bill Beutel and Stephanie Edwards, with Peter Jennings reading the news (Jennings had been a replacement for Bob Kennedy, who had been scheduled to be the program's newsreader, but died two months before the premiere from bone cancer). Because the show could not find an audience against ''Today'' (and its anchor team of
Jim Hartz James Leroy Hartz (February 3, 1940 – April 17, 2022) was an American television personality, columnist and reporter during the mid- and late-1970s. At age 24, he was the youngest correspondent NBC had ever hired. Hartz became best known to a nat ...
and Barbara Walters), ABC sought a new approach. The network found that one of its affiliates, WEWS in
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...
,
Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
, had been pre-empting ''AM America'' in favor of airing a locally produced show called '' 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, including health, entertainment, consumer affairs and travel. Also unlike both the NBC and ABC shows, ''The Morning Exchange'' was not broadcast from a newsroom set but instead one that resembled a
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...
an living room. In the process of screening the Cleveland morning program as a creative source, ABC also began looking at another local show, '' Good Morning!'', which was produced by
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
ABC affiliate WCVB-TV. ''Good Morning!'' was very similar in format to ''The Morning Exchange'', but with a lesser emphasis on news and weather. In fact, once the revamped ABC morning show took to the air late in 1975 under the title ''Good Morning America'', WCVB station manager Bob Bennett accused ABC entertainment president Fred Silverman of deliberately stealing the title of ''Good Morning!''; no legal cease and desist action was finalized against ABC in the matter, however. The launch of ''Good Morning America'' did result in the Boston morning show changing its name—to ''Good Day!''. Currently, WCVB's morning news program is titled ''EyeOpener''. ABC took an episode of ''The Morning Exchange'' and used it as a
television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other dis ...
. The format replaced ''AM America'' on Monday, as ''Good Morning America''. The first cohosts were actor David Hartman and actress Nancy Dussault. Dussault was replaced in April 1977 by previously at KABC-TV The show's title is the same as the beginning of the chorus of
Steve Goodman Steven Benjamin Goodman (July 25, 1948 – September 20, 1984) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter from Chicago. He wrote the song "City of New Orleans", which was recorded by Arlo Guthrie and many others including John Denv ...
's song ''City of New Orleans''. For the first seven years, weather forecasts were presented by John Coleman, former chief meteorologist for ABC owned-and-operated station WLS-TV in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, who left ''GMA'' in 1982 to start The Weather Channel with Landmark Communications CEO Frank Batten. Dave Murray (later chief meteorologist at KTVI in St. Louis) provided the forecasts for both ''Good Morning America'' and ABC's early morning news program '' ABC News This Morning'' from 1983 to 1986. In August 1986, he was replaced by
Spencer Christian Spencer Christian (born July 23, 1947) is an American television broadcaster, best known as the former weather forecaster for ABC's ''Good Morning America'' from 1986 to 1998. He currently is the weather forecaster for ABC-owned KGO-TV in San Fr ...
, who worked at WABC-TV in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and served as fill-in meteorologist for both Coleman and Murray whenever they were away on vacation or assignment.


1976–1989: Growth and change

The program's Nielsen ratings climbed slowly, but steadily throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s while ''Today'' experienced a slight slump in viewership, especially with Walters' decision to leave NBC for a job at ABC News. On August 30, 1976, Tom Brokaw began anchoring ''Today'' while the program began a search for a female co-host. Within a year, ''Today'' managed to beat back the ''Good Morning America'' ratings threat with Brokaw and new co-host
Jane Pauley Margaret Jane Pauley (born October 31, 1950) is an American television host, and author, active in news reporting since 1972. Pauley first became widely known as Barbara Walters's successor on the NBC morning show ''Today'', beginning at the ag ...
, featuring art and entertainment contributor Gene Shalit. ''Good Morning America'' continued to threaten ''Today''s ratings dominance into the 1980s, especially after Brokaw left the latter program to become co-anchor of '' NBC Nightly News'' with
Roger Mudd Roger Harrison Mudd (February 9, 1928 – March 9, 2021) was an American broadcast journalist who was a correspondent and anchor for CBS News and NBC News. He also worked as the primary anchor for The History Channel. Previously, Mudd was weeke ...
for 17 months before being named sole anchor of that program. For the first time, ''Good Morning America'' became the highest-rated morning news program in the United States as ''Today'' fell to second place. At the outset, ''Good Morning America'' 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, an exasperated Hill left ''Good Morning America'' after run-ins with Hartman, who was said to have "had a problem with strong women." She was replaced by Joan Lunden, then a reporter at ABC's New York City flagship WABC-TV. Hartman and Lunden led the show through several years of success. Lunden's popularity led to her promotion to co-anchor in 1986, and to more equal footing with Hartman than any woman before her. The partnership ended on February 20, 1987, when Hartman retired after 3,189 broadcasts. After Hartman's departure, Lunden was paired with ABC News correspondent Charles Gibson on February 23, 1987, which ultimately resulted in ratings for the program skyrocketing. The team of Lunden and Gibson became the most popular news partnership on television in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and for the first time ''Good Morning America'' regularly won the ratings against ''Today''. At one point prior to Spencer Christian's arrival in 1986, forecasts on the program were provided by WXYZ-TV chief meteorologist
Jerry Hodak Jerry Hodak (born April 11, 1942)
via a split screen between the WXYZ studios in
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
and the ''Good Morning America'' set in New York City.


1990–1998: Rise and decline

''Good Morning America'' entered the 1990s with continued overwhelming ratings success. Gibson and Lunden became a hard team to beat; however, the program stumbled from its top spot in late 1995, falling to second place behind ''Today'' (in what would begin a 16-year streak as the top-rated morning news program for that show, which began the week of December 11, 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 that a prime time program; '' Behind Closed Doors'' would premiere on the network in 1996. On September 5, 1997, Lunden decided to step down as host of ''Good Morning America'' after 17 years and was replaced by ABC News correspondent Lisa McRee. The pairing of Gibson and McRee fared well in the ratings. However, ratings sharply declined when Gibson also left the show to make way for Kevin Newman on May 1, 1998. With McRee and Newman as anchors, longtime viewers of ''Good Morning America'' switched to ''Today'', whose ratings skyrocketed.


January 1999 – May 2005: Gibson–Sawyer

To improve ''Good Morning America''s ratings performance, which briefly fell to third place among the morning shows in January 1999, ABC News management selected Shelley Ross from the field of executive producer candidates. As part of Rossʼs proposed changes, Ross ousted the McRee-Newman team and lobbied to bring in Diane Sawyer and team her with Charles Gibson, who had been reluctant to return. On January 18, 1999, the Gibson-Sawyer team paired by Ross debuted on-air, which during the first full season resulted in a dramatic increase in viewership while all other network news franchises saw losses. The show moved from the ABC News headquarters in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's Lincoln Square district 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 inside the studio, similar to the "Window on the World" set used by ''Today''. Under Ross, ''Good Morning America'' became a competitive 24/7 news operation with more exclusive bookings, news and live stock market updates for West Coast viewers and new on-screen graphics that included a news ticker. ''Good Morning America'' began originating entire shows from unique locations, which, according to Nielsen Media Research, resulted in more people watching the program and for longer periods of time. ''GMA'' became the first to originate a live show from an aircraft carrier during wartime (the USS Enterprise), from the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
(after the Columbine High School massacre), from The Pentagon (for the reopening of the wing damaged during the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
in 2001), from The Vatican (for the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's election as Pope), and from the Tower of London (on the 50th anniversary of
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...
ʼs accession to the throne). Viewership during this time increased by nearly 1 million households, and revenue soared. Although ''Today'' remained the top-rated morning news show, the Sawyer, Gibson and Ross team inched close, creating a viable rival. 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 Antonio Mora (born December 14, 1957, Havana, Cuba) is a multiple Emmy Award winning journalist and television news anchor. He is best known for his years at ABC News, including his four years as the news anchor and chief correspondent for ''Goo ...
served as newsreader for the program until March 18, 2002, when he left to become an anchor at CBS owned-and-operated station
WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington ...
in Chicago. He was replaced by former
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
anchor and correspondent Robin Roberts.


May 2005 – June 2006: Gibson–Sawyer–Roberts

On May 23, 2005, ABC News announced that Robin Roberts would be promoted from newsreader to co-anchor of ''Good Morning America'', joining Gibson and Sawyer. Roberts had previously served as a regular substitute for Gibson and Sawyer when either of them were on vacation or on assignment. On November 3, 2005, ''Good Morning America'' celebrated its 30th anniversary with retrospectives on and clips from the show's history and by decorating Times Square. Former co-hosts Hartman and Lunden, along with former meteorologist
Spencer Christian Spencer Christian (born July 23, 1947) is an American television broadcaster, best known as the former weather forecaster for ABC's ''Good Morning America'' from 1986 to 1998. He currently is the weather forecaster for ABC-owned KGO-TV in San Fr ...
, 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." That same day, ''Good Morning America'' became the first network morning news program to begin broadcasting in
high-definition television High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
. On December 2, 2005, weather anchor Tony Perkins left the program after six years. The last ten minutes of that day's edition were dedicated to Perkins, during which he gave thanks to one of the show's producers and a heartfelt goodbye to anchors Gibson, Roberts and Sawyer. Perkins left the program to return to his family in Washington, D.C. and join Fox owned-and-operated station WTTG, where he previously served as a weather anchor. He affectionately said to his young son on-air, "Connor, if you're watching, daddy's comin' home." Perkins was replaced by Mike Barz, former
WGN Morning News The ''WGN Morning News'' is an American morning television news program airing on WGN-TV (channel 9), an independent television station and national superstation in Chicago, Illinois owned by Nexstar Media Group. The program broadcasts each ...
sports anchor at WGN-TV in Chicago. Gibson left ''Good Morning America'' for the second time on June 28, 2006. That day's edition was dedicated to his 19 years as anchor of the program and celebrated his new role as anchor of ''
ABC World News Tonight ''ABC World News Tonight'' (titled ''ABC World News Tonight with David Muir'' for its weeknight broadcasts since September 2014) is the flagship daily evening television news program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting ...
''. Gibson ended his tenure at ''GMA'' by stating, "For nineteen years, my mornings have been not just good—they've been great."


June 2006 – December 2009: Sawyer–Roberts

There had been speculation that Sawyer would leave ''Good Morning America'' when her contract expired in 2007 to assume the anchor position at ''ABC World News'' that was given to Gibson. In August 2006, Chris Cuomo was named news anchor while continuing his anchoring duties on the newsmagazine '' Primetime'' and serving as ABC News's senior legal correspondent. Meanwhile, Sam Champion, longtime evening meteorologist at WABC-TV, was named as the new weather anchor for the program and as weather editor for ABC News. Both Cuomo and Champion began their respective duties on the program on September 5, 2006, when ''Good Morning America'' instituted a new graphics package and new news area for Cuomo to report headlines. The following week, on September 13, 2006, the program introduced a new
logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...
—this time with gold Avant Garde font on a blue background, which bears a resemblance to the original ''Good Morning America'' logo that was used up to early 1987. On June 29, 2007, the program's longtime film critic Joel Siegel died of complications from colorectal cancer at age 63. The July 9 edition of ''GMA'' was dedicated to Siegel, with former hosts Hartman, Hill, Lunden, Newman, Christian, Perkins and Gibson all appearing to share their memories. One month later, on July 31, 2007, Robin Roberts announced that she had been diagnosed with
breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...
after discovering a lump in her breast during a self-examination while preparing the Siegel tribute episode. Roberts remained as anchor while undergoing
chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemother ...
and completed radiation treatments on March 28, 2008. On October 22, 2007, ''Good Morning America'' introduced a new on-air graphics package. Using much of the design features of its former graphics, it went from a basic blue background to a more orangish-gold setting. The program's opening changed from the camera's 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 ''Good Morning America'' logo descending onto the frame. It also changed its news ticker and time-and-temperature bug for the first time in years. The ticker featured an orange background with a modified ABC News logo as a breakpoint for each headline. The bug still featured the time and current local temperature to the left, but with an orange backdrop with an alternate "GMA" logo and the ABCNews.com logo to the right. On January 15, 2008, during an interview with Diane Sawyer on the program, actress Diane Keaton commented on Sawyer's physical attractiveness, stating that if she had lips like Sawyer's, "then I wouldn't have worked on my '' xpletive' personality!" Keaton quickly apologized for the remark and Sawyer jokingly threatened to have her mother "work on your personality with soap in your mouth." Officials with the Federal Communications Commission declined to take action for the fleeting expletive. Following the death of Michael Jackson, Charles Gibson returned to the ''Good Morning America'' anchor desk with Roberts on June 26, 2009, while Sawyer was away. In September 2008, ''Good Morning America''s anchors rode an Amtrak
train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...
to tour the United States as part of ABC Newss "50 States in 50 Days" event, for which the program was broadcast from different locations around the U.S. each day throughout that month. The tour's first telecast stop was in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.


December 2009 – April 2014: Roberts–Stephanopoulos

On September 2, 2009, ABC announced that Sawyer would replace Gibson as anchor of ''ABC World News'' at the end of that year. Speculation had abounded that either George Stephanopoulos, news anchor Chris Cuomo, weekend anchor
Bill Weir William Francis Weir (born December 19, 1967) is an American television journalist based in Manhattan. Weir is a correspondent and anchor for CNN, and the creator and host of the global documentary serie"The Wonder List with Bill Weir."He is th ...
, or ''World News'' Saturday anchor
David Muir David Jason Muir (born November 8, 1973) is an American journalist and the anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' and co-anchor of the ABC News magazine ''20/20'', part of the news department of the ABC broadcast-television network, based in ...
would replace Sawyer on the program. Representatives for ABC News stated that it wanted to return the show to the original male-female anchor format. On December 10, 2009, Stephanopoulos was announced as Sawyer's replacement, with Juju Chang replacing Cuomo as newsreader; the changes took effect four days later on December 14. In April 2010, the anchor desk in the studio was relocated back in front of the window overlooking Times Square, where it had been when ''Good Morning America'' moved to the Times Square Studios facility in 1999; the news desk was also moved in front of a window. On May 3, 2010, the program debuted new "light blue and sunny" graphics, and new theme music by DreamArtists Studios. An entirely new set for the program was introduced on January 31, 2011; the monitor used for national weather segments (used mainly during the 7:00 a.m. hour only) was moved closer to the anchor desk while the news desk remained in the same place. This was the first major set change since the show upgraded to high definition in November 2005. On February 25, 2011
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moved from ''Nightline'' to become Senior Executive Producer of ''GMA''. On March 17, 2011, ABC News President
Ben Sherwood Benjamin Berkley "Ben" Sherwood (born February 12, 1964) is an American writer, journalist, and producer who was formerly the President of Disney-ABC Television Group and ABC News. Early life and education Sherwood was born to a wealthy Jewis ...
announced that former ''GMA'' national correspondent Lara Spencer would be rejoining the program in May in a newly created lifestyle anchor position. On March 29, 2011, ESPN anchor Josh Elliott was named news anchor of the program following the departure of Juju Chang. In the summer of 2011, ''Good Morning America'' decided to vacate the second floor of the Times Square studios, which overlooked Times Square, due to cost issues. On September 6, 2011, the program began broadcasting from an entirely new studio set located on the first floor (ground level) of the Times Square studios. The main "window" behind the presenters in the new set, which also shows a view overlooking Times Square from an above-ground level, is actually a back-projection, although there are several real windows used in other parts of the set. Amid declining ratings at ''Today'' in the aftermath of reports of Matt Lauer's alleged role in Ann Curry's departure as co-host (though ratings had been in a steady decline for that program during Curry's co-hosting tenure), viewership for ''Good Morning America'' increased starting in 2012. The program beat ''Today'' for the first time in 16 years during the week of April 9, 2012, ending that program's streak of 852 consecutive weeks as the most-watched network morning news program, by a margin of 31,000 more viewers than the NBC program. ''Good Morning America'' beat ''Today'' once again during the week of April 16, 2012, by a much larger margin of 166,000 viewers. During the week of April 1, 2012, ABC News special correspondent Katie Couric, who had recently joined the network as part of a deal to host a syndicated talk show distributed by corporate sister
Disney–ABC Domestic Television Disney–ABC Domestic Television (doing business as Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, and formerly named Buena Vista Television) is the in-home sales and content distribution firm of Disney Platform Distribution, a s ...
, filled for Robin Roberts on ''Good Morning America''. Couric had hosted the rival NBC morning program ''Today'' from 1991 to 2006; her ''Good Morning America'' stint marked her return to morning news after six years. On August 30, 2012, Roberts went on medical leave after undergoing a bone marrow transplant (donated by her sister and fellow news anchor SallyAnn Roberts) following her diagnosis with myelodysplastic syndrome. ''GMA'' correspondent Amy Robach and ''
20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...
'' anchor Elizabeth Vargas served as the primary substitutes, typically alternating every other week. Others, including some celebrities, also served as special guest anchors during this time such as Kelly Ripa, Jessica Simpson, Barbara Walters and
Elisabeth Hasselbeck Elisabeth DelPadre Hasselbeck (; born May 28, 1977) is an American retired television personality and talk show host. Hasselbeck rose to prominence in 2001 as a contestant on the second season of the American version of '' Survivor'', where sh ...
. On January 14, 2013, Roberts announced that she hoped to return to the program sometime that February; Roberts performed dry run rehearsals during the week of January 21 in preparation for her return; she and her doctors evaluated her body's reaction to the makeup, the lighting, her hair, and the number of people she comes in contact with to avoid compromising her then-gradually-improving health. Roberts returned to ''Good Morning America'' part-time on February 20, 2013; she announced in August 2013 that she would return to full-time hosting duties on September 3 of that year. In 2013, ''GMA'' won its first Nielsen ratings in 18 years. On December 4, 2013, weather anchor Sam Champion departed ''Good Morning America'' and ABC News after seven years on the program to join The Weather Channel, where he became primary anchor of the competing morning program ''
America's Morning Headquarters ''America's Morning Headquarters'' (formerly ''Your Weather Today'', ''Morning Rush'' and ''AMHQ'') is an American morning television program on The Weather Channel. Airing every morning from 6  a.m. to 12 p.m. Eastern Time, the program ...
'' (which debuted in March 2014). He was succeeded the following day by
Ginger Zee Ginger Renee Colonomos (née Zuidgeest; born January 13, 1981), known by her pseudonym Ginger Zee, is an American television personality. She is the chief meteorologist for ABC News, after having been the network's weekend meteorologist. Earl ...
, who had been serving as meteorologist for the weekend editions of ''GMA'' and was also appointed to Champion's former position as weather editor for ABC News. On March 30, 2014, news anchor Josh Elliott left ABC News after three years as news anchor of ''GMA'' to become a correspondent for NBC Sports, amid reports that contract negotiations to increase his annual salary (from $1.2 million to $8 million) broke down; Elliott was replaced as news anchor by Amy Robach later that week. The program continued to dominate over the competition, even with the loss of two major co-hosts in Champion and Elliott. In early April 2014, several media reports speculated that Michael Strahan would be joining ''GMA'' as a contributing anchor, while maintaining his co-host duties on '' Live! with Kelly and Michael'' (which is also syndicated by Disney–ABC Domestic Television). Strahan's new position was confirmed on April 15, 2014, when he was introduced to the audience as the new contributing anchor on the program.


April 2014 – September 2016: Roberts–Stephanopoulos–Spencer

On April 18, 2014, Lara Spencer was promoted to co-anchor effective immediately, receiving top billing on the program alongside Roberts and Stephanopoulos. In September 2014, former NFL player Tim Tebow was announced to be joining the program as a part-time correspondent to help launch the new segment, "Motivate Me Mondays". He made his debut on the program on September 15, 2014. On November 19, 2015, the program celebrated its 40th anniversary, with all the main anchors and most of the news and weather anchors returning to join the celebration and share their stories. Clips from all 40 years were shown. On April 19, 2016, Strahan announced that he would be leaving '' Live! with Kelly and Michael'' to join ''Good Morning America'' full-time.


September 2016–present: Roberts–Stephanopoulos–Strahan

On September 6, 2016, Michael Strahan began his run as official full-time co-anchor of the program along with Roberts, Stephanopoulos, and Spencer. A new title sequence was debuted not including Spencer's name. The first hour focuses on the news of the morning anchored by Roberts, Stephanopulos, and Strahan. Zee does segments of the weather and Robach reads the morning headlines. The second hour is in the second floor studio and is taped in front of a live studio audience. It focuses on "soft news" and entertainment. It is anchored by the three main co-anchors (including Spencer) and features guests and talk show panel discussion. In April 2018, it was announced that Spencer would cut back on her hours on ''GMA'' from five days a week to three to focus on her own projects. On May 23, 2018, an afternoon extension of ''GMA'' (originally titled ''GMA Day'', now known as ''GMA3'') was announced as a replacement in the fall of 2018 for the cancelled cooking series '' The Chew'' in the 1:00 p.m. ET/noon CT timeslot. In April 2022, Roberts celebrated her 20th anniversary with ''Good Morning America'', during which an on-air celebration was held with Roberts being honored with a plaque featuring her name on the grounds of Time Square.


Spin-offs


''Good Night America''

''Good Night America'' was a late night talk show/news magazine hosted by Geraldo Rivera in the 1970s as part of ABC's late night line up also ABC's "Wide World Special". Though not exactly like ''GMA'' it was more of a talk show format, with guests and interviewing them and also topics of current events, with Rivera ending the show with commentary. After ''Good Night America'' went off the air, Rivera still worked for ABC eventually working for ''Good Morning America'' when it premiered in November 1975, while still working for ABC News and its other shows such as '' Nightline'' and ''
20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...
''.


''Good Afternoon America''

A special summer afternoon edition of ''Good Morning America'', titled ''Good Afternoon America'', premiered on July 9, 2012, as a temporary replacement for the canceled talk/lifestyle show '' The Revolution'' in the 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time weekday slot. ''Good Afternoon America'' was taped immediately after the morning program and focused on lighter fare, with the exception of the July 20 edition, which provided live coverage of the
2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred inside a Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, United States, during a midnight screening of the film ''The Dark Knight Rises''. Dressed in tactical clothing, James Holmes set off tear gas g ...
. Like its morning counterpart, ''Good Afternoon America'' originated from Times Square Studios. The limited-run program, which ended on September 7, 2012, was hosted by then ''Good Morning America'' news anchor Josh Elliott and lifestyle anchor Lara Spencer.


''GMA Wake Up Call''

''GMA Wake Up Call'' is a pre-morning show hosted by Ginger Zee. Substitute hosts include
Rob Marciano Robert Mark Marciano (born June 25, 1968) is an American journalist and meteorologist who is currently employed by ABC News. Marciano provides forecasts for the weekend editions of ''Good Morning America'', a position Ginger Zee vacated when sh ...
. This spin-off is a lead in to the actual GMA program airing live stream on social media outlets. The show airs between 6:45 a.m. and 6:50 a.m. ET and runs for 10–15 minutes.


''GMA Lunch Break''

''GMA Lunch Break'' is a half-hour afternoon show airing on social media outlets between 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. also hosted by Zee. This focuses on a featured lunch recipe.


''GMA Deals''

''GMA Deals'' airs on social media outlets on select days at 8:30 a.m. Hosted by Zee and Tory Johnson, it is an extension of the show's popular segment where influencers and other representatives of companies demonstrate products on-air and offer deal of the day on the offered product or service.


''GMA3''

''GMA3'' is a spinoff/third hour of ''GMA'' that was originally hosted by Michael Strahan and Sara Haines. The show premiered on September 10, 2018, under the title of ''GMA Day'', and later became known as ''GMA3'' on January 28, 2019, with ''Strahan and Sara'' being the subtitle. On August 26, 2019, after filling in as a summer co-host during Haines' maternity leave, actress and singer Keke Palmer joined as a permanent third co-host and the show took the subtitle of ''Strahan, Sara and Keke'' until March 2020, when it became ''GMA3: What You Need to Know'', an hour-long news program hosted by Amy Robach that originally covered the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Later in 2020, Palmer and industry insiders announced the ''Strahan, Sara and Keke'' incarnation of the program would not return and was, in effect, cancelled.


On-air staff


Current

file:Robin Roberts (33613523178) (cropped) (Better Version).jpg, Robin Roberts
Co-Anchor; 2005-present (2002-2005 as News Anchor) File:George Stephanopoulos May 2013.jpg, George Stephanopoulos
Co-Anchor; 2009–present File:StrahanUSNA2021(cropped).jpg, Michael Strahan
Co-Anchor; 2016–present File:Amy Robach.jpg, Amy Robach
Co-Host/Breaking News Anchor; 2014–present File:Lara Spencer May 2014.jpg, Lara Spencer
Co-Host/Entertainment Anchor; 2011–present (1999–2004 as Reporter) File:Ginger Zee (cropped).jpg,
Ginger Zee Ginger Renee Colonomos (née Zuidgeest; born January 13, 1981), known by her pseudonym Ginger Zee, is an American television personality. She is the chief meteorologist for ABC News, after having been the network's weekend meteorologist. Earl ...

Co-Host/Chief Meteorologist; 2013–present


Former on-air staff


Co-anchors

* David Hartman (1975–1987) * Nancy Dussault (1975–1977) * Sandy Hill (1977–1980) * Joan Lunden (1980–1997) * Charles Gibson (1987–1998 & 1999–2006) * Lisa McRee (1997–1999) * Kevin Newman (1998–1999) * Diane Sawyer (1999–2009)


News anchors


Weather anchors


Correspondents

* Joel Siegel: Entertainment Editor (1981–2007) *
Tony Reali Tony Reali (born July 4, 1978) is an American sports personality and television host of '' Around the Horn'' on ESPN. He served as the statistician on '' Pardon the Interruption'' from the show's debut in 2001 until late 2014. In April 2014, it ...
(2014–2015 weekdays; 2015–2018 weekends) * Stephen Colbert (1990s)


Weekend editions


International broadcasts

In Australia, until 2018, Nine Network broadcast ''Good Morning America'' on its stations in metropolitan areas, Northern NSW and it’s regional affiliate from 2016 to 2021 Nine Regional and before 2016 and also 2021–present WIN Television on a one-day delay (by way of Australia and the United States being on different ends of the International Date Line) each Tuesday through Friday from 3.30 to 5:00, Saturdays from 5.30 to 7:00, Sundays from 6:00 to 7:00 and Monday mornings from 4:00 to 5:00 a.m. The Nine broadcasts featured a map providing forecasts for Australia in place of the national U.S. weather map (which itself is also, in a separate feature within the main weather segment, used as a cutaway to weather updates provided by local ABC affiliates). However, as of July 3, 2018, Nine no longer airs the show. Although it aired at the same time as
Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
and Network 10's broadcasts of NBC's ''Today'' and '' CBS Mornings'' (including its predecessor, ''
CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...
''), ''Good Morning America''s broadcasts by Nine were unchallenged ratings-wise in some regions where other affiliates preempt their networks' U.S. breakfast programs with paid and religious programming. OSN airs ''Good Morning America'' on OSN First HD live each weekday at 5:00 Time in the United Arab Emirates / 4:00 Saudi Arabia Standard Time in the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
and North Africa Countries.


Accolades

In 1992 and 1993, ''Good Morning America'' won a
Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...
for Outstanding Talk/Service Show. In 21st GLAAD Media Awards, the program was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding TV Journalism Segment" for the segment "Total Transformation: Why Chaz Bono Decided to Change". At the 32nd GLAAD Media Awards, the program was again nominated for the "Outstanding TV Journalism Segment" category for the segment "Dwyane Wade One-On-One: Basketball Legend Opens Up About Supporting Transgender Daughter."


See also

* ABC News * Breakfast television * List of years in television


References


External links

* * {{ABCNetwork Shows (current and upcoming) 1975 American television series debuts 1980s American television news shows 1990s American television news shows 2000s American television news shows 2010s American television news shows 2020s American television news shows ABC News American Broadcasting Company original programming American live television series Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show winners English-language television shows Good Morning America Radio Television morning shows in the United States Television shows filmed in New York City