Live! With Kelly and Michael
WABC-TV also produces the nationally-syndicated talk show Live with Kelly and Michael, broadcast live at 9 a.m. (Eastern time). The program originates in the same ground-floor studio at 7 Lincoln Square as Eyewitness News, thus creating a situation which forces local news updates broadcast during Good Morning America and Live to be produced from the WABC-TV newsroom, and the morning show's presence also limits the size of the Eyewitness News set.
The program's roots originated with A.M. New York, which debuted in 1970 as a local version of NBC's Today show; the program's first host was John Bartholomew Tucker who lasted until 1972, after which a succession of hosts came and went, the more successful of whom was Stanley Siegel who hosted from 1975 to 1978 (for a year beginning in 1977, the series was called The Stanley Siegel Show). After 1980, the show was retitled Good Morning New York, whose co-hosts in the last years of its run in that form included Spencer Christian, Andrea Kirby, Judy Licht, Dick Wolfsie, and longtime Eyewitness News reporter and anchor Doug Johnson. After years of a losing ratings battle against WNBC and Donahue, WABC cancelled Good Morning New York in early 1983. The current show began as the station's second attempt at a local morning show a month later, aptly titled The Morning Show (using the "Circle 7" logo in the actual text for one of the "o"s), and was originally hosted by Regis Philbin and Cyndy Garvey. In 1985, Kathie Lee Johnson (who would marry Frank Gifford a year later and become known professionally as Kathie Lee Gifford) became Philbin's co-host. Buena Vista Television (now Disney-ABC Domestic Television) began syndicating the show in 1988 as Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. Gifford left the show in 2000 and was eventually replaced by co-host Kelly Ripa. The franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008.
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