'' or '''''GMA''''' is the
Weekday Morning News Talk Show of the
American Broadcasting Company television network (ABC). 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 is the only network morning news program to broadcast in
HDTV . The program is currently hosted by
Charles Gibson ,
Diane Sawyer , and
Robin Roberts . When major events happen in Washington during the morning hours, then the show is often broadcast from Washington DC.
Since 2004, ABC has also aired ''
Good Morning America Weekend Edition ''.
In January 1975, ABC launched ''
A.M. America '' in an attempt to compete with the
National Broadcasting Company (NBC) network production 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 , 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'' 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 discussing 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 America's first host was
David Hartman , featuring
Nancy Dussault as his co-host. Dussault was replaced in
1977 by
Sandy Hill .
''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 .
''Good Morning America'' continued to threaten ''The Today Show'' into the 80's, 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.
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 . Hartman and Lunden led the show through several seasons of success. The partnership ended in February of 1987 as Hartman retired.
Consumer reporter, Joan Lunden, also weekend anchor of WABC Evening News was a frequent guest on the program, and was attractive and popular with viewers. The telegenic Lunden was a natural and obviously popular candidate to become co-host.
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. Gibson and Lunden prevailed over ''The Today Show''.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the 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 Morning beat ''The Today Show'' and took the second place spot after ''Good Morning America''.
Lunden's popularity with viewers made the format to 2 equal co-anchors become necessary. David Hartman was no longer the main host of the program.
''Good Morning America'' sailed into the 1990s with its overwhelming ratings success. Lunden and Gibson were a hard couple to beat. But ''Good Morning America'' would stumble from its top spot in late 1995.
Lunden began to discuss working less, and mentioned to network execs that the morning schedule is the hardest in the business. ABC executives promised Lunden a primetime show, Behind Closed Doors,would be on the network schedule.
Lunden decided to step down after 17 years on the show, 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 at the helms of ''Good Morning America'', long time viewers switched to ''The Today Show'', hosted first by
Bryant Gumbel and
Katie Couric , with news and weather anchored by
Matt Lauer and
Willard Scott . After Gumbel's departure, Lauer became Couric's cohost. News and weather were anchored by
Ann Curry and
Al Roker . ''The Today Show'' ratings skyrocketed and have remained at the top spot since the week of December 11, 1995.
In 1999, ABC became desperate to revive ''Good Morning America'' which viewers disfavored. It negotiated Gibson's return, teaming him up with Diane Sawyer. The team was meant to be temporary until ABC could find permanent replacements. However, ''Good Morning America'' ratings once again increased and battled ''The Today Show'' for viewership, though it has not yet proclaimed a victory in weekly viewership over ''The Today Show''. ABC stuck with the Gibson and Sawyer team where they remain today as anchors of ''Good Morning America''. Until
March 18 ,
2002 , the news was anchored by
Antonio Mora . When he left to anchor
WBBM-TV in
Chicago ,
Robin Roberts replaced Mora.
, where
Good Morning America is taped in
HD .]]
In May
2005 , ABC announced former
ESPN anchor
Robin Roberts , the show's news anchor would be promoted to co-anchor. She had been regularly filling in for Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson up until then.
As of 2005, ''Good Morning America'' has still not prevailed over ''The Today Show'', though it has had a few one-show victories on the day after
Pope John Paul II's Funeral , and then a
Mariah Carey concert shortly after in 2005. ''Good Morning America'' has won in timeslots in large markets like New York, which may give an indication that people may begin to choose them over ''The Today Show''. Recently, however, the viewership gap between "Today" and "GMA" has widened again.
On
November 3 ,
2005 , ''GMA'' celebrated its 30th birthday with recaps to 1975 and by decorating Times Square. Former co-hosts David Hartman and Joan 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 ''Good Morning America'' became the first morning news show to broadcast in HDTV.
On
December 2 ,
2005 , weatherman
Tony Perkins left ''Good Morning America'', where he has been the weather personality since
1999 . The last ten minutes of the day's show was dedicated to Perkins, where he gave thanks to one of the show's producers and a heartfelt goodbye to the three anchors, Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer, and Robin Roberts.
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.
Perkins affectionately said to his young child on the air, "Connor, if you're watching, daddy's comin' home."
Perkins has since been replaced by the likeable weather personality, Mike Barz.
Good Morning America has been on air for thirty years as of this year, 2006.
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 8am to Noon Eastern Time.
