Jim Murphy, who ran ABC’s “Good Morning America†for five years, will be in charge of CNN’s next attempt to reap morning television glory, people familiar with his hiring said Thursday.
Mr. Murphy will be the senior executive producer of whatever show replaces “Starting Point,†the network’s current morning show that is hosted by Soledad O’Brien. The network hasn’t said when exactly “Starting Point†will be retired, but Ms. O’Brien said last week that she expects to leave the time slot sometime this spring.
The network also hasn’t said who will host the new program, either. But last month it hired Chris Cuomo away from ABC with the expectation that he’ll be a co-anchor of it. Mr. Cuomo was the news anchor on “G.M.A.†for three years while Mr. Murphy was the top producer of that program.
The other possible co-anchor is Erin Burnett, who currently helms th 7 p.m. hour on CNN. Her name surfaced more than a month ago, but no deal has been announced yet.
The revamped morning show is a top priority for Jeff Zucker, who took over CNN Worldwide last month. Mr. Zucker is famous for, among other things, turning around the fortunes of NBC’s “Today†show in the 1990s, starting a 16-year winning streak in the ratings race. Mr. Zucker rose up the ranks of NBC in the 2000s, eventually becoming the chief executive of NBC Universal.
Mr. Murphy, after a six-year stint running the “CBS Evening News,†became the senior executive producer of “G.M.A.†in 2006. He was unable to break that “Today†show streak, though he brought “G.M.A†quite close to “Today†on several occasions.
In 2011 Mr. Murphy left “G.M.A.†and helped start “Anderson,†the daytime talk show hosted by the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. Amid behind-the-scenes turmoil over the ratings of the talk show, he stepped down in early 2012.
A CNN spokeswoman! did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but other people familiar with Mr. Murphy’s hiring said it was announced internally on Thursday morning.
