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‘Good Morning America’ Producers Named

Jul 26, 2006  •  Post A Comment

The open secret about who will run “Good Morning America” is now out in the open. Former “CBS Evening News” executive producer Jim Murphy will be senior executive producer and “GMA” veteran senior broadcast producer Tom Cibroski will be promoted to executive producer.

Mr. Murphy will report to Phyllis McGrady, ABC News senior VP of morning, primetime and development, the network said Wednesday. Mr. Cibrowksi will report to Mr. Murphy. The two will jointly oversee the day-to-day content and operations of the morning news program.

They succeed executive producer Ben Sherwood, who had announced he is leaving ABC News Oct. 1 to return to California.

“Jim Murphy and Tom Cibrowski are two of the most talented news producers in the business,” ABC News President David Westin said in a statement. “They are producers with tremendous experience in broadcast news and can do it all from breaking hard news to compelling features.”

Mr. Murphy was “CBS Evening News” for five years until he left late last year in search of a change and a challenge. The “GMA” post will take him back to his morning roots – he joined CBS News in 1993 as a segment producer on its morning show. He rose to become executive producer of “This Morning” and “CBS This Morning” from 1994 to 1997.

“GMA” will be more than a challenge. After pulling within 40,000 of NBC’s long-time morning news champ “Today” show, in spring 2005, the gap has since opened up again to as many as 1 million viewers.

Charlie Gibson left “GMA” in June to become anchor of “ABC World News.” It is likely a successor will be named to anchor the show which has been operating this summer with Diane Sawyer, who was assigned to “temporary” duty on “GMA” in 1999, and Robin Roberts co-anchoring with a number of male substitutes. A permanent weather announcer and news reader also still need to be identified.

Mr. Cibrowski was a senior producer on “The Early Show” at CBS for two years prior to joining “GMA” in 2002, a move that brought him back to ABC News. He got his start in the Washington, D.C. bureau and worked from 1990 to 1994 s on “Nightline.”