Changes For Early Start Are Official

Weekdays from 5:00am to 7:00am ET
CNN anchors John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin host.

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Soledad O’Brien Returns to Mornings with New Show, New Direction

Soledad O’Brien Returns to Mornings with New Show, New Direction

Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin Co-Anchor 5-7am; Soledad O’Brien Anchors 7-9am

CNN will launch a new format of news and conversation in the morning, including a 7-9am ET show anchored by award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien in 2012.
O’Brien will anchor a new conversational ensemble program that explores top issues of the day while opening the conversation to people from all walks of life. O’Brien will continue to be a special correspondent for long-form documentaries at CNN.
“I couldn’t be more eager to return to daily news, to bring conversation and context to CNN viewers in the morning. I welcome the opportunity to give voice to people who aren’t often heard, and stories that are sometimes overlooked,” says O’Brien. “I love telling people’s stories, and I’m looking forward to bringing the perspective, heart and storytelling that have worked well in our documentaries to a morning audience”
“CNN has the opportunity in the morning to cover a wider range of stories from broader perspectives,” says Executive Vice President of CNN Ken Jautz. “We are planning to offer something original in the four-hour morning block to complement our direction in primetime.”
"This is an exciting time to be relaunching our morning show, with the morning television audience more up for grabs than it has been in years," says Executive Vice President and Managing Editor of CNN Mark Whitaker, who will oversee development of the new program. "With CNN's global reach and this unique cast of superb journalists as anchors, we have the opportunity to do something truly fresh and different."
Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin will anchor from 5-7am ET, kicking off the new CNN morning block with a new program covering a broad spectrum of the day’s news from two highly personable and passionate journalists.

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The New American Morning?

Like former Chicago WMAQ-Channel 5 news anchors Robin Meade and Don Lemon, Zoraida Sambolin is headed to CNN. Sambolin, anchor of NBC 5 News Today, is leaving the NBC-owned station after nine years to join CNN in New York. Sources at the network said she’s been hired as one of the anchor replacements for American Morning. Rumor has it that AM will be shorten from it's current 4 hours to 2 two hour blocks. Past host Soledad O’Brien (who previously co-hosted American Morning from 2003 to 2007) and ABC’s Ashleigh Banfield also have been mentioned as anchors of the new shows.

*Source: TimeOut Chicago

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