AM America was amorning news program produced byABC in an attempt to compete with the highly ratedToday onNBC. Premiering on January 6, 1975, the show never found an audience againstToday or the CBS combo of theCBS Morning News andCaptain Kangaroo. Lasting just under ten months, its final installment aired on October 31.[1] It was replaced the following Monday, November 3, byGood Morning America.
One notable episode ofAM America aired on April 25, 1975, when members of the British comedy troupeMonty Python, with the exception ofJohn Cleese who had temporarily left the group, made one of their earliest appearances on American television. The program ended with the Pythons attempting to tear apart the set and abscond with everything that wasn't nailed down, including Edwards.[7]
Edwards quit the show by the end of May, and Beutel followed her out a few months later.[2] On November 3, the Monday following its final broadcast, it was replaced with a more well-known, more successful effort,Good Morning America.[1]
The logo forAM America had the letters A and M colored in blue while the rest of the word "America" was colored in red. The "AM" overlapped with "America". A star was placed inside the "A".
The series'theme music was "Spirit Of '76 (AM America)," aninstrumental composed by William Goldstein which was released as asingle forMotown in November 1975.[8][9]
TheAM (city name) name wasfranchised to ABC stations across the United States, for locally produced morning talk programs (which generally aired during the 9 a.m. hour, after the national program ended; they generally had one or two hosts, and most had a live studio audience, especially during the 1980s).
WXYZ-TV had anAM Detroit in the mid-1970s (hosted byDennis Wholey) which was replaced byKelly & Company, with formerAction News co-anchorman John Kelly and weathercaster Marilyn Turner (a husband-and-wife team),[10] which ran through the early 1990s.
KGO-TV'sAM San Francisco (aired from 1975 to 1988) featured the husband-and-wife team of Fred LaCosse and Terry Lowry.Nancy Fleming co-hosted for a period in the 1970s. Before 1975, the program was simply calledAM and was hosted byJim Dunbar (best known for being a longtime personality for KGO radio). The show was renamedGood Morning Bay Area in 1988 and ran under this title until being replaced byLive with Regis and Kathie Lee.
Additionally,KATU in Portland has airedAM Northwest since the debut ofAM America. There also was a short livedAM Northwest program on Seattle'sKOMO-TV (sister station to KATU) in either the 1980s or 1990s. The KATU and KOMO-TV versions had different hosts and guests, but the debut broadcast on KOMO included on air interaction with the hosts atAM Northwest in Portland.
Some non-ABC affiliated stations such asCBS affiliateKHOU inHouston and then-NBC owned-and-operated stationWKYC inCleveland have used theAM branding for their programsAM Houston andAM Cleveland, respectively.[11][12]
