The leading morning team in television is losing an important contributor with the announcement on Monday that Sam Champion would leave his post as the weather anchor for ABC’s “Good Morning America” to join the Weather Channel.
The all-weather, all-the-time network said that Mr. Champion would be the anchor of an upgraded morning program to begin in 2014. The Weather Channel, which is partly owned by NBCUniversal, also announced that Mr. Champion would be the managing editor of the channel.
Mr. Champion has been the weather anchor for “Good Morning America” since 2006. Before that he was the weather anchor for ABC’s flagship station in New York, WABC, for 18 years.
With the new position, Mr. Champion will work alongside his morning TV rival, Al Roker of NBC’s “Today” show, who has his own early morning show on the Weather Channel, “Wake Up With Al.”
Both Mr. Champion and his boss at ABC News, Ben Sherwood, described the decision to leave “G.M.A.” as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for a weather aficionado. Mr. Champion is not a meteorologist, but has been involved in coverage of numerous weather events at ABC in recent years, including the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy last year. ABC News won a Peabody Award for its coverage of that storm.
Mr. Sherwood has already named Mr. Champion’s backup at “Good Morning America,” Ginger Zee, who is a meteorologist, as his replacement on the show.
Source: NYTimes.com, 12/2/13
