Sam Champion is leaving “Good Morning America” and ABC News to join The Weather Channel as managing editor and anchor of a new morning show.
Wednesday is his last day at “GMA.” ABC News meteorologist Ginger Zee will take over his weather responsibilities at the morning show and network.
Champion joined GMA as its weather anchor in 2006, and previously worked for WAB /Channel 7 New York since 1988.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to do what I love most at a network that lives and breathes the weather. The Weather Channel is currently undergoing an incredible renaissance, having recently rebranded its look and feel and transformed the way it presents the weather,” said Champion in a statement. “While it is an extremely difficult decision for me to leave ABC and my ‘GMA’ family, I look forward to combining my interest in weather reporting and decades of experience to continue making The Weather Channel the premier destination for the more than 46 million weather enthusiasts and beyond. My ABC family could not have been more supportive and gracious during this transition.”
He will now be based at the Weather Channel’s headquarters in Atlanta. The new morning show, which is set to debut in early 2014 “will leverage the network’s advancements in local content delivery, as well as its content partnerships, to help Americans get off to the right start daily, ready for any weather condition they may face,” according to the announcement.
Champion was part of the “GMA” anchor team that broke the Today show’s 16-year winning streak in 2012 and helped cement it as the new top-rated morning show that regularly wins each week in viewers and the key advertiser demo of adults 25-54.