American Morning
Encyclopedia
American Morning is the morning television show
on CNN
. It premiered in 2001.
, Zoraida Sambolin & Soledad O'Brien
. Others who appear regularly are Rob Marciano
with the weather, Sunny Hostin
on legal news, and CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta as well as Elizabeth Cohen
with health-related reports.
American Morning focuses on the news more than many U.S. morning shows. The program offers "the most news in the morning" on political, domestic, and international stories. There are more scripted segments on American Morning than on other morning shows, as well as a heavy dose of political news each morning. The program mainly focuses on news to attract viewers who prefer a more straightforward morning show, without the amount of anchor banter found on the competition. Its main competitors are Fox News Channel
's Fox and Friends and MSNBC
's Morning Joe
.
American Morning is aired live every weekday morning from 6 to 9 am EST. After years of operating from a streetside studio at the Time-Life Building
in New York City
, the show moved north to an indoor set at the CNN studios in the Time Warner Center
at Columbus Circle
which was shared with the CNN Headline News
show Showbiz Tonight
. In October 2006, AM received a redesigned set, along with new music and graphics.
On September 26, 2007, American Morning began broadcasting in High Definition
. This HD version currently can be seen on HD feeds from Comcast, DirecTV, AT&T U-Verse and other providers.
Originally AM aired for three hours, from 7am to 10am. After the cancellation of Daybreak, the program was expanded to four hours, 6am to 10am. However, the air time was reduced in October 2006 to 6am to 9am, after the expansion of CNN Newsroom
.
and Anderson Cooper
joined her as co-hosts and helped deliver news on the attacks.
In February 2002 Bill Hemmer
moved to New York to become Paula Zahn's cohost, replacing Anderson Cooper. In April 2003 Bill Hemmer anchored the program solo when Paula Zahn moved to CNN primetime. Heidi Collins
and Daryn Kagan
temporarily hosted with Bill Hemmer before Soledad O'Brien
debuted as co-host.
In June 2005 Bill Hemmer left CNN and was replaced by Miles O'Brien
. Heidi Collins was replaced by Carol Costello
. Jack Cafferty left the show later that summer. The show moved to the Time Warner Center, and shared a set with the CNN Headline News program Showbiz Tonight
. Costello later left the program and was not replaced, however she did return in 2011. In October 2006, the show received a redesigned set, along with new music and graphics.
Due to disappointing Nielsen ratings
, CNN announced the replacement of Miles O'Brien and Soledad O'Brien with Kiran Chetry
and John Roberts as program hosts effective April 16, 2007. In the first quarter of 2007, Fox and Friends on Fox News Channel
averaged 769,000 viewers, CNN's American Morning averaged 372,000 and MSNBC's
Imus in the Morning
averaged 361,000 viewers at the time of its cancellation by MSNBC on April 11, 2007.
On November 22, 2010, CNN American Morning underwent a lighter graphics change.
On October 31, 2011, CNN made changes to its morning lineup official, announcing Thursday that Soledad O'Brien would return to hosting the network's mornings along with tapping Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin for the early hours, as previously reported by B&C.
O'Brien will front 7-9 a.m. ET/ 4-6a PT, where she previously hosted CNN's American Morning from 2003-07, while Banfield, an ABC News correspondent, and Sambolin, most recently a local news anchor in Chicago, have been tapped to host the 5-7 a.m. ET/2-5a PT hours.
The as-yet-untitled programs, which effectively dismantle American Morning, will be launched sometime in 2012. CNN has hired Shannon High from NBC's peacock Productions to be executive producer of both programs.
This anchor shakeup is the latest in a long line of changes to American Morning in the last year. After co-anchor John Roberts left the network to join Fox News in January, CNN chief business correspondent Ali Velshi started filling in alongside co-host Kiran Chetry. When Chetry left in July, Christine Romans and Carol Costello joined Velshi on the program.
Ken Jautz, executive VP of CNN/U.S. says the new morning show will be more conversational and interview-based instead of the prompter-driven format traditional of many morning shows, including American Morning.
"It will be broader than any of the other morning cable news shows," he said in an interview with B&C. "It will of course include political coverage but not be narrowly focused on the political developments of the day. And it will bring the full range of CNN's newsgathering apparatus, both domestically and internationally, to bear."
Jautz called the revamp of the morning programming the "final piece" in the lineup changes he has pushed though in an effort to improve ratings since being tapped to head the network in September 2010. Among all its anchor changes, American Morning had become mostly an afterthought in the morning ratings race dominated by NBC's Today and cable entries like Fox News' Fox & Friends.
MSNBC's Morning Joe, which has seen the most year-to-date growth of any of the cable morning shows, has had success with a conversational format that relies on in-studio guests, though Jautz says CNN's show will be less politically focused and cover a broader range of news.
"We think there's an opportunity in that so much of the morning is narrowly focused on domestic politics and the political squabbling of the day," he said. "It will definitely not be an inside-the-Beltway feel or limitation."
The format will also play to O'Brien's strengths, who since leaving the mornings in 2007 has been producing documentaries for the network like her In America series.
"I think particularly with her many documentaries in recent years, she has proven herself that she can talk to anybody, from all backgrounds and walks of life," Jautz said. "She's a very good interviewer."
O'Brien will continue to produce some documentaries in additional to her new primary morning role, though she will necessarily do fewer.
The selection of O'Brien along with Banfield and Sambolin underscores CNN's desire to fill its lineup with anchors who are proven journalists, as evidenced with its primetime lineup changes in July that canceled the show fronted by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and introduced one with former CNBC anchor Erin Burnett.
At ABC News, Banfield has reported for programs like Good Morning America and 20/20; prior to that she was an anchor for CourtTV (now truTV) and gained attention for her coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent Iraq War for NBC News.
Sambolin was most recently co-anchor of the morning program at the NBC affiliate in Chicago and fill-in anchor for Telemundo Chicago, where she worked at the NBCUniversal-owned English and Spanish-language stations simultaneously.
After the new programs debut, Velshi will no longer be a part of CNN's mornings, and instead will launch a daily business show on CNN International, World Business Today. He will continue in his role as chief business correspondent and do segments across CNN daytime and primetime programs.
Romans will provide business reporting for the new morning block and Costello will continue as an anchor and correspondent for CNN. All three current anchors will continue to lead American Morning until the new morning lineup launches in 2012.
Breakfast television
Breakfast television or morning show , is a type of infotainment television program, broadcast live in the morning...
on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
. It premiered in 2001.
About the show
American Morning is hosted by Ashleigh BanfieldAshleigh Banfield
Ashleigh Banfield is a Canadian-American journalist who as of 2010 hosts Disorder in the Court, Open Court and Hollywood Heat on Tru TV , where she reports on domestic and pop culture issues...
, Zoraida Sambolin & Soledad O'Brien
Soledad O'Brien
María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien is an American Broadcast journalist. She is currently the host of the "In America" documentary unit on CNN, and is best known for anchoring the CNN marquee morning newscast American Morning from July 2003 to April 2007, with Miles O'Brien...
. Others who appear regularly are Rob Marciano
Rob Marciano
Rob Marciano is an American journalist and meteorologist. He currently works for CNN Worldwide in their Atlanta headquarters. He holds a bachelor's degree in meteorology from Cornell University....
with the weather, Sunny Hostin
Sunny Hostin
Asunción “Sunny” Hostin was born on October 20, 1968 and is a former Federal prosecutor, as well as a legal expert and TV personality, who is often called upon for her clear analysis on various provocative issues and high-profile criminal cases in the news....
on legal news, and CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta as well as Elizabeth Cohen
Elizabeth Cohen
Elizabeth Cohen is an American television news journalist for CNN. She is the channel's senior medical correspondent and appears on American Morning.-Early life:...
with health-related reports.
American Morning focuses on the news more than many U.S. morning shows. The program offers "the most news in the morning" on political, domestic, and international stories. There are more scripted segments on American Morning than on other morning shows, as well as a heavy dose of political news each morning. The program mainly focuses on news to attract viewers who prefer a more straightforward morning show, without the amount of anchor banter found on the competition. Its main competitors are Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
's Fox and Friends and MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
's Morning Joe
Morning Joe
Morning Joe is a weekday morning talk show on MSNBC, with Joe Scarborough discussing the news of the day in a panel format with co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist. It was created as the replacement for Imus in the Morning, which was canceled in April 2007 after simulcasting on MSNBC since 1996...
.
American Morning is aired live every weekday morning from 6 to 9 am EST. After years of operating from a streetside studio at the Time-Life Building
Time-Life Building
The Time-Life Building, located at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in Rockefeller Center in New York opened in 1959 and was designed by the Rockefeller family's architect Wallace Harrison, of Harrison, Abramovitz, and Harris.The Time & Life Building was the first of four buildings in Rockefeller...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the show moved north to an indoor set at the CNN studios in the Time Warner Center
Time Warner Center
The Time Warner Center is a mixed-use skyscraper developed by AREA Property Partners and The Related Companies in New York City. Its design, by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, consists of two 750 ft towers bridged by a multi-story atrium containing upscale retail shops...
at Columbus Circle
Columbus Circle
Columbus Circle, named for Christopher Columbus, is a major landmark and point of attraction in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South , and Central Park West, at the southwest corner of Central Park. It is the point from...
which was shared with the CNN Headline News
CNN Headline News
HLN, formerly known as CNN Headline News and CNN2, is a cable television news channel based in the United States and a spinoff of the cable news television channel, CNN. Initially airing tightly-formatted 30-minute newscasts around the clock, since 2005, the channel has increasingly aired long-form...
show Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight is an American entertainment news program on HLN .Showbiz Tonight is hosted by A.J. Hammer at CNN New York. The show reports and debates celebrity entertainment news stories and controversies, along with social networking segments involving viewer interaction via social networks and...
. In October 2006, AM received a redesigned set, along with new music and graphics.
On September 26, 2007, American Morning began broadcasting in High Definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
. This HD version currently can be seen on HD feeds from Comcast, DirecTV, AT&T U-Verse and other providers.
Originally AM aired for three hours, from 7am to 10am. After the cancellation of Daybreak, the program was expanded to four hours, 6am to 10am. However, the air time was reduced in October 2006 to 6am to 9am, after the expansion of CNN Newsroom
CNN Newsroom
CNN Newsroom is an American news program on CNN/US.Broadcasting throughout the week, Newsroom features live and taped news reports, in addition to analysis from experts on the issues being covered, and headlines throughout each hour. The program tends to focus on softer news than their hard news...
.
History
American Morning originally premiered on September 12, 2001. Paula Zahn began anchoring the program five months early due to the 9/11 attacks which had occurred the previous morning. Jack CaffertyJack Cafferty
Jack Cafferty is a CNN commentator and occasional host of specials. In the summer of 2005, Cafferty joined The Situation Room.-Career:...
and Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper
Anderson Hays Cooper is an American journalist, author, and television personality. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories...
joined her as co-hosts and helped deliver news on the attacks.
In February 2002 Bill Hemmer
Bill Hemmer
Bill Hemmer is an American television-news anchor. He is a co-host of America's Newsroom on the Fox News Channel.-Early life and education:...
moved to New York to become Paula Zahn's cohost, replacing Anderson Cooper. In April 2003 Bill Hemmer anchored the program solo when Paula Zahn moved to CNN primetime. Heidi Collins
Heidi Collins
Heidi Collins is an American correspondent and anchor for KMSP-TV Fox 9 News in Minneapolis – Saint Paul. She formerly worked for CNN.-Life and career:...
and Daryn Kagan
Daryn Kagan
Daryn A. Kagan is creator and host of the award-winning , a media company specializing in inspirational and motivational news content...
temporarily hosted with Bill Hemmer before Soledad O'Brien
Soledad O'Brien
María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien is an American Broadcast journalist. She is currently the host of the "In America" documentary unit on CNN, and is best known for anchoring the CNN marquee morning newscast American Morning from July 2003 to April 2007, with Miles O'Brien...
debuted as co-host.
In June 2005 Bill Hemmer left CNN and was replaced by Miles O'Brien
Miles O'Brien (journalist)
Miles O'Brien is a broadcast news journalist specializing in aviation, space and technology.-Early life:...
. Heidi Collins was replaced by Carol Costello
Carol Costello
Carol Costello is a CNN national correspondent and anchor, working out of the network's New York City bureau. She was part of CNN's Peabody-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 presidential election, and also covered the Virginia Tech shootings, the Obama inauguration and the Casey...
. Jack Cafferty left the show later that summer. The show moved to the Time Warner Center, and shared a set with the CNN Headline News program Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight
Showbiz Tonight is an American entertainment news program on HLN .Showbiz Tonight is hosted by A.J. Hammer at CNN New York. The show reports and debates celebrity entertainment news stories and controversies, along with social networking segments involving viewer interaction via social networks and...
. Costello later left the program and was not replaced, however she did return in 2011. In October 2006, the show received a redesigned set, along with new music and graphics.
Due to disappointing Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, CNN announced the replacement of Miles O'Brien and Soledad O'Brien with Kiran Chetry
Kiran Chetry
Kiran Carrie Chetry was a co-anchor of CNN's early morning cable news program, American Morning.-Early life:Kiran means "ray of light". Chetry refers to the large traditional caste of rulers and soldiers among Hindus in the Middle Hills of Nepal. Kiran's father Hom Chetry belongs to this caste...
and John Roberts as program hosts effective April 16, 2007. In the first quarter of 2007, Fox and Friends on Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
averaged 769,000 viewers, CNN's American Morning averaged 372,000 and MSNBC's
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
Imus in the Morning
Imus in the Morning
Imus in the Morning is an American radio show hosted by Don Imus on Cumulus Media Networks , and simulcast for television on Fox Business Network....
averaged 361,000 viewers at the time of its cancellation by MSNBC on April 11, 2007.
On November 22, 2010, CNN American Morning underwent a lighter graphics change.
On October 31, 2011, CNN made changes to its morning lineup official, announcing Thursday that Soledad O'Brien would return to hosting the network's mornings along with tapping Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin for the early hours, as previously reported by B&C.
O'Brien will front 7-9 a.m. ET/ 4-6a PT, where she previously hosted CNN's American Morning from 2003-07, while Banfield, an ABC News correspondent, and Sambolin, most recently a local news anchor in Chicago, have been tapped to host the 5-7 a.m. ET/2-5a PT hours.
The as-yet-untitled programs, which effectively dismantle American Morning, will be launched sometime in 2012. CNN has hired Shannon High from NBC's peacock Productions to be executive producer of both programs.
This anchor shakeup is the latest in a long line of changes to American Morning in the last year. After co-anchor John Roberts left the network to join Fox News in January, CNN chief business correspondent Ali Velshi started filling in alongside co-host Kiran Chetry. When Chetry left in July, Christine Romans and Carol Costello joined Velshi on the program.
Ken Jautz, executive VP of CNN/U.S. says the new morning show will be more conversational and interview-based instead of the prompter-driven format traditional of many morning shows, including American Morning.
"It will be broader than any of the other morning cable news shows," he said in an interview with B&C. "It will of course include political coverage but not be narrowly focused on the political developments of the day. And it will bring the full range of CNN's newsgathering apparatus, both domestically and internationally, to bear."
Jautz called the revamp of the morning programming the "final piece" in the lineup changes he has pushed though in an effort to improve ratings since being tapped to head the network in September 2010. Among all its anchor changes, American Morning had become mostly an afterthought in the morning ratings race dominated by NBC's Today and cable entries like Fox News' Fox & Friends.
MSNBC's Morning Joe, which has seen the most year-to-date growth of any of the cable morning shows, has had success with a conversational format that relies on in-studio guests, though Jautz says CNN's show will be less politically focused and cover a broader range of news.
"We think there's an opportunity in that so much of the morning is narrowly focused on domestic politics and the political squabbling of the day," he said. "It will definitely not be an inside-the-Beltway feel or limitation."
The format will also play to O'Brien's strengths, who since leaving the mornings in 2007 has been producing documentaries for the network like her In America series.
"I think particularly with her many documentaries in recent years, she has proven herself that she can talk to anybody, from all backgrounds and walks of life," Jautz said. "She's a very good interviewer."
O'Brien will continue to produce some documentaries in additional to her new primary morning role, though she will necessarily do fewer.
The selection of O'Brien along with Banfield and Sambolin underscores CNN's desire to fill its lineup with anchors who are proven journalists, as evidenced with its primetime lineup changes in July that canceled the show fronted by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and introduced one with former CNBC anchor Erin Burnett.
At ABC News, Banfield has reported for programs like Good Morning America and 20/20; prior to that she was an anchor for CourtTV (now truTV) and gained attention for her coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent Iraq War for NBC News.
Sambolin was most recently co-anchor of the morning program at the NBC affiliate in Chicago and fill-in anchor for Telemundo Chicago, where she worked at the NBCUniversal-owned English and Spanish-language stations simultaneously.
After the new programs debut, Velshi will no longer be a part of CNN's mornings, and instead will launch a daily business show on CNN International, World Business Today. He will continue in his role as chief business correspondent and do segments across CNN daytime and primetime programs.
Romans will provide business reporting for the new morning block and Costello will continue as an anchor and correspondent for CNN. All three current anchors will continue to lead American Morning until the new morning lineup launches in 2012.
Previous hosts
- Paula Zahn (2002–2003)
- Anderson CooperAnderson CooperAnderson Hays Cooper is an American journalist, author, and television personality. He is the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°. The program is normally broadcast live from a New York City studio; however, Cooper often broadcasts live on location for breaking news stories...
(2002) - Jack CaffertyJack CaffertyJack Cafferty is a CNN commentator and occasional host of specials. In the summer of 2005, Cafferty joined The Situation Room.-Career:...
(2002–2005) - Bill HemmerBill HemmerBill Hemmer is an American television-news anchor. He is a co-host of America's Newsroom on the Fox News Channel.-Early life and education:...
(2002–2005) - Daryn KaganDaryn KaganDaryn A. Kagan is creator and host of the award-winning , a media company specializing in inspirational and motivational news content...
(2002–2003) - Heidi CollinsHeidi CollinsHeidi Collins is an American correspondent and anchor for KMSP-TV Fox 9 News in Minneapolis – Saint Paul. She formerly worked for CNN.-Life and career:...
(2003–2005) - Andy SerwerAndrew SerwerAndrew Serwer, the managing editor of Fortune, was named one of the 100 most influential business journalists of 2007 by NewsBios.com. Serwer is based out of Time Warner’s New York City office....
(2003) - Carol CostelloCarol CostelloCarol Costello is a CNN national correspondent and anchor, working out of the network's New York City bureau. She was part of CNN's Peabody-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 presidential election, and also covered the Virginia Tech shootings, the Obama inauguration and the Casey...
(2005–2006) - Soledad O'BrienSoledad O'BrienMaría de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien is an American Broadcast journalist. She is currently the host of the "In America" documentary unit on CNN, and is best known for anchoring the CNN marquee morning newscast American Morning from July 2003 to April 2007, with Miles O'Brien...
(2003–2007) - Miles O'BrienMiles O'Brien (journalist)Miles O'Brien is a broadcast news journalist specializing in aviation, space and technology.-Early life:...
(2005–2007) - John Roberts (2007–2010)
- Kiran ChetryKiran ChetryKiran Carrie Chetry was a co-anchor of CNN's early morning cable news program, American Morning.-Early life:Kiran means "ray of light". Chetry refers to the large traditional caste of rulers and soldiers among Hindus in the Middle Hills of Nepal. Kiran's father Hom Chetry belongs to this caste...
(2007–2011) - Ali VelshiAli VelshiAli Velshi is a Canadian-American television journalist best known for his work on CNN. He is CNN's Chief Business Correspondent, Anchor of CNN's Wake Up Call and a co-host of CNN's weekday morning show American Morning.-Personal life:...
(2011–2012) - Christine RomansChristine RomansChristine Romans is a correspondent and anchor for CNN. She previously worked for Reuters and Knight Ridder Financial News. She is a co-host with Ali Velshi on the weekend business TV show Your $$$$$ and is a business correspondent for American Morning. She is from Iowa and graduated from Iowa...
(2011–2012) - Carol CostelloCarol CostelloCarol Costello is a CNN national correspondent and anchor, working out of the network's New York City bureau. She was part of CNN's Peabody-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 presidential election, and also covered the Virginia Tech shootings, the Obama inauguration and the Casey...
(2011–2012)