''AM America'' was a morning news program produced by ABC in an attempt to compete with the highly rated ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. Premiering on January 6, 1975, the show never found an audience against ''Today'' or the CBS combo of the ''

CBS Morning News ''CBS News Mornings'' (formerly ''CBS Morning News'') is an American early-morning news broadcast presented weekdays on the CBS television network. The program features late-breaking news stories, national weather forecasts and sports highlight ...

'' and ''

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program ...

''. Lasting just under ten months, its final installment aired on October 31.Robertson, Campbell. "Bill Beutel, 75, Dies; Longtime Anchor of 'Eyewitness News' in New York," ''The New York Times'', Monday, March 20, 2006.
/ref> It was replaced the following Monday, November 3, by ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

''.

History

The program's concept was based on '' Ralph Story's AM'', the local morning show on the

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

's owned-and-operated

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

station

KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station mai ...

.Ehrman, Mark. "Why Is This Woman Smiling?" ''Los Angeles Times'', Sunday, August 30, 1998.
/ref> Like ''Today'', ''AM America'' employed two hosts and a news anchor. Originally selected in August 1974 as cohosts were Bill Beutel who was co-anchor of ''

Eyewitness News ''Eyewitness News'' is a style of television presentation that emphasizes visual elements and action videos, instead of the older ,"man-on-camera" style of newscast, and is most prominently featured in the New York City metropolitan area. Hi ...

'' on the network's

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

flagship station

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, WABC-TV maintains studios in the Hudson Square neighborhood ...

, Stephanie Edwards from ''Ralph Story's AM'' and Bob Kennedy who hosted morning

talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...

''Kennedy and Company'' on

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

WLS-TV WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's ABC network outlet. It has been owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division since the station's inception. ...

. Kennedy died of

bone cancer A bone tumor is an neoplastic, abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as benign, noncancerous (benign) or malignant, cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body su ...

on November 5, 1974, just two months prior to the series' debut, and was eventually replaced by ABC's Washington correspondent

Peter Jennings Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings (July 29, 1938August 7, 2005) was a Canadian-American television journalist. He was best known for serving as the sole anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 200 ...

who provided the news reports. One notable episode of ''AM America'' aired on April 25, 1975, when members of the British comedy troupe

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

, with the exception of

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...

who had temporarily left the group, made one of their earliest appearances on American television. The program ended with the Pythons attempting to tear apart the set and abscond with everything that wasn't nailed down, including Edwards. Edwards quit the show by the end of May, and Beutel followed her out a few months later. On November 3, the Monday following its final broadcast, it was replaced with a more well-known, more successful effort, ''

''.

Logo

The logo for ''AM America'' had the letters A and M colored in blue while the rest of the word "America" was colored in red. The "AM" overlapped with "America". A star was placed inside the "A".

Theme music

The series'

theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

was "Spirit Of '76 (AM America)," an

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

composed by William Goldstein which was released as a single for

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

in November 1975.

Franchising

The ''AM (city name)'' name was franchised to ABC stations across the United States, for locally produced morning talk programs (which generally aired during the 9 a.m. hour, after the national program ended; they generally had one or two hosts, and most had a live studio audience, especially during the 1980s). * ''AM Los Angeles'', the successor to ''Ralph Story's AM'', featured

Regis Philbin Regis Francis Xavier Philbin ( ; August 25, 1931 – July 25, 2020)Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine was an American television presenter, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest-working man in show business", he held th ...

and Sarah Purcell. Purcell was replaced by Cyndy Garvey in 1978, and the show moved to New York City in 1983 (where it replaced ''AM New York''), eventually evolving into the current ''

Live with Kelly and Mark ''Live with Kelly and Mark'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts si ...

''. After the departures of Philbin and Garvey, ''AM Los Angeles'' continued on KABC-TV featuring at various points Paul Moyer, Ann Martin, Harold Greene, Steve Edwards,

Cristina Ferrare Cynthia Cristina Ferrare (born 1950) is an American fashion model, actress, author and talk-show host. She had lead roles in several films in the late-1960s and early-1970s, including the 1968 comedy '' The Impossible Years'' and the 1972 Wester ...

and Tawny Little until 1991 when the program was replaced by '' Live with Regis and Kathie Lee''. *

's ''AM Chicago'' (itself a successor to the ''Kennedy and Company'' series hosted by Bob Kennedy, who would have been an ''AM America'' co-host prior to his unexpected death), hosted by (among others) Sandi Freeman, Steve Edwards, John Barbour, Robb Weller, Tim Weigel, John Callaway and

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

. The program evolved into ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...

'' which aired in the former ''AM Chicago'' time slot from 1986 to 2011. After ''Oprah'' ended, WLS-TV premiered '' Windy City Live'' which aired in the same time slot until 2013 when it was replaced by '' Live with Kelly and Michael'' (now ''Live with Kelly and Mark''). *

WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...

had an ''AM Detroit'' in the mid-1970s (hosted by Dennis Wholey) which was replaced by ''Kelly & Company'', with former ''Action News'' co-anchorman John Kelly and weathercaster Marilyn Turner (a husband-and-wife team), which ran through the early 1990s. *

KGO-TV KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been owned and operated by the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network through its ABC Owne ...

's ''AM San Francisco'' (aired from 1975 to 1988) featured the husband-and-wife team of Fred LaCosse and Terry Lowry. Nancy Fleming co-hosted for a period in the 1970s. Before 1975, the program was simply called ''AM'' and was hosted by Jim Dunbar (best known for being a longtime personality for KGO radio). The show was renamed ''Good Morning Bay Area'' in 1988 and ran under this title until being replaced by ''Live with Regis and Kathie Lee''. * ''

AM Buffalo WKBW-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios at 7 Broadcast Plaza in downtown Buffalo and a transmitter on Center Stree ...

'', which replaced a ''

Dialing for Dollars ''Dialing for Dollars'' was a franchised format local television program in the United States and Canada, popular from the 1950s to the early 1990s. Format At the beginning of a typical ''Dialing for Dollars'' program, the host (a local televi ...

'' franchise on

WKBW-TV WKBW-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios at 7 Broadcast Plaza in downtown Buffalo and a transmitter on Center Stree ...

, also remains on air. * Additionally,

KATU KATU (channel 2) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside La Grande–licensed independent station KUNP, channel 16 (which KATU simulcasts on its sec ...

in Portland has aired ''AM Northwest'' since the debut of ''AM America''. There also was a short lived ''AM Northwest'' program on Seattle's

KOMO-TV KOMO-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue-licensed The CW, CW affiliate ...

(sister station to KATU) in either the 1980s or 1990s. The KATU and KOMO-TV versions had different hosts and guests, but the debut broadcast on KOMO included on air interaction with the hosts at ''AM Northwest'' in Portland. * Some non-ABC affiliated stations such as

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate

KHOU KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe-licensed Quest station KTBU (channel 55). The two stations share studios on Westheimer Road near ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and then-

owned-and-operated station

WKYC WKYC (channel 3) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. Its studios are located on Tom Beres Way (a section of Lakeside Avenue in Downtown Cleveland named after the station's lo ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

have used the ''AM'' branding for their programs ''AM Houston'' and ''AM Cleveland'', respectively.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Am America American Broadcasting Company original programming ABC News 1970s American television news shows 1975 American television series debuts 1975 American television series endings