Looks like all that frolicking in the sun made Sam Champion miss the warm weather.
The erstwhile Good Morning America weatherman and surprisingly ripped silver fox has announced that he’s leaving GMA for warmer pastures, specifically Atlanta-based The Weather Channel.
He will serve as an on-air host and managing editor on The Weather Channel, and he will also anchor a flagship morning show beginning in 2014. The move is a part of the network’s rebranding, though it wasn’t an easy decision for Champion.
Champion has been with ABC in some capacity for nearly 25 years, starting at a local affiliate in Kentucky.
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In a statement released to the media, Champion called the move “extremely difficult,” but stated that it’s a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to do what I love most at a network that lives and breathes the weather.”
Though Champion frequently travels for work, the move may have been motivated by a desire to be closer to his husband. Champion will move to Atlanta, GA to perform his Weather Channel duties, and Champion’s photographer husband Rubem Robierb is based in Miami, where they were married again after an initial ceremony in New York last year.
Champion fans and daddy chasers, take note: Sam’s last day on Good Morning America will be on December 4th.
SpunkyBunks
Good for him. Those morning shows are for idiots. Other than brain dead soccer mommies, who watches that crap?! There is no real news being reported and they are full of celebrity worship.
Rockery
@SpunkyBunks:
True, the show does lack content, but morning shows are huge and GMA is the top show. I don’t understand this move at all. I wonder if he was forced out because why would you leave a top rated show? Strange.
Uisce
Sam Champion is NOT a meteorologist. He is a weatherman. It is the difference between being a doctor and playing one on TV. Sam has no formal weather science education and he merely reads what certified forecasters have put into written form. He is just a broadcaster – which makes the move to weather nerd TV a bit baffling.
bigblackhose
No, Sam is not a meteorologist. No it is NOT the same as “playing a doctor on TV.” Nurse Practitioners prescribe, Physician’s Assistants prescribe – neither are doctors who also have the training and ability to prescribe. Sam is MORE than qualified to do the job of Weather Anchor without the AMS certification. Period. His move to TWC will allow him to produce and host his own content – OWNERSHIP is KEY. Think Seacrest, Cohen, Roker. ALSO – ABC has a history of “moving aging weather talent along”, i.e. Tony Perkins, Spencer Christian once they hit the early 50’s.
Armando5908
@Rockery: totally agree
Armando5908
@bigblackhose: Ginger Z … Just saying.