The Morning Exchange
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The Morning Exchange was a daily morning TV show that aired on WEWS-TV Channel 5 in Cleveland, Ohio from 1972 to 1999. The program is widely regarded as one of the most successful local programs in the history of US television. On a typical day in the 1970s, over 2/3 of all TV sets in Cleveland were tuned to The Morning Exchange. In 1975, the Morning Exchange format served as the basis for the creation of ABC's Good Morning America.
[edit] History
The Morning Exchange changed the face of morning television. The Morning Exchange was the first morning show to use a "living room" set. The format also was the first to establish the now familiar concept of news and weather at the top and bottom of the hour. The remainder of the time was used for discussing general interest/entertainment topics. In a 2006 interview, Ken Lowe, the CEO of Scripps-Howard Broadcasting said, "The Morning Exchange was a huge risk that Don [Perris] took at the time. A lot of people thought that he was out of his mind when he suggested a morning show of that nature. Of course, we all know that [the show's format] went on to become [the standard for all of today's network morning shows.]" Griffith talked about the ground-breaking format in a 2006 interview saying, "We talked about death, sexuality, dealing with career choices, how to establish long lasting relationships, we talked about all those kinds of things that are just routine now, but [at the time] we were pioneers."
The show, originally called The Alan Douglas Morning Exchange whose first broadcast took place on January 3, 1972, was created by Donald L. Perris and William F. Baker as an alternative to the solely news-based morning shows at the time. Originally, when the show debuted, a traditional news desk set was used and the show was hosted by Alan Douglas. Don Webster was the announcer and did some of the show's interviews and Joel Rose read the news. In March of 1972, Don Webster briefly left the station and he was replaced by Liz Richards who became a co-host and the weather presenter. In July, Douglas left the station and was replaced by Fred Griffith, a member of the station's news department since 1966. The choice of Griffith as a co-host of the show was only meant to be temporary, but Griffith remained a co-host throughout the remainder of the program's history.
In August of 1972, a decision was made to replace the news desk set with a set that resembled a suburban living room and Griffith, Richards, and Rose would instead recline on couches. Producers felt that this would make viewers feel more relaxed and comfortable. This idea proved to be correct and the format became more relaxed as the hosts developed chemistry on screen. As a result, many viewers felt that the TV set was an extension of their own living room and that the personalities were a part of their family. Morning Exchange quickly became extremely popular, with an average of 67% of television viewers tuning in each day.
The format was so successful that ABC used The Morning Exchange as the pilot for the nationally broadcast Good Morning America, replacing the struggling A.M. America. The format quickly caught on and soon GMA topped The Today Show on NBC. Soon thereafter, both NBC and CBS adopted the format for their morning shows.
On March 16, 1979 in an emotional episode, a tear-filled Richards left the show in order to care for her children. She was replaced by Jan Jones. Jones became a consultant for WEWS in 1983 and left the show. In 1984, Rose took a new job in Boston. Randi Hall became the new co-host of the show for a year and a half. The news segment updates were now delivered by either Jenny Crimm or Lou Maglio. Unlike Rose, however, Crimm and Maglio simply read the news and were not co-hosts. In 1987, Lee Jordan became the new co-host, more than adequately filling the void left by Hall's earlier departure.
From 1976 - 1982 and then again from 1988 through the show's end, Lynda Hirsch provided recaps and previews of television soap operas. She developed such a reputation on the show, she was given her own national syndicated newspaper column.
David Moss (now with Cleveland station WJW) was Morning Exchange's entertainment reporter from 1985 - 1993. In 1990 John Loufman (now with Cleveland station WOIO) joined the cast and provided weather reports and a number of live shots. In 1993, both Maglio and Moss left the show for new positions at WJW, while Loufman left for WKYC (and later, WJW). Loufman was replaced by Mark Johnson. Later in 1993, Lee Jordan moved from the co-host position of Morning Exchange to a position in WEWS's news department. She would later go on to become a co-host of the afternoon news program Live On Five, replacing longtime anchor Wilma Smith - who also went to WJW. Jordan was replaced by former WKYC anchor Connie Dieken.
[edit] Morning Exchange's Decline
The "beginning of the end" for The Morning Exchange came in 1994. Originally, WEWS elected to air neither A.M. America nor Good Morning America, instead using that time-slot for The Morning Excahnge. In 1978, WEWS began airing one hour of Good Morning America from 7 to 8 a.m. and then The Morning Exchange from 8 to 10 a.m.. ABC, struggling with the mid-90s decline of Good Morning America, could not pitch to sponsors that the show was broadcast in the top 25 markets. The only market not broadcasting the full show was Cleveland, at the time the 13th largest market. Therefore, ABC struck a deal with Scripps-Howard, giving the company a large kickback in exchange for broadcasting the full 2 hours of GMA.
That move was devastating to The Morning Exchange. It was pushed back to 9-11 a.m., missing the commuter rush hour crowd. Additionally, the show's original target audience, stay-at-home women, had nearly disappeared since the show's debut as more women entered the workforce.
In 1997, WEWS began to air Live with Regis and Kathie Lee from 9-10 a.m. and The Morning Exchange from 10 a.m.-noon. However, it was interrupted half way through with the then 30-minute Martha Stewart show.
In 1998, major changes occurred when the show's title was changed to Today's Morning Exchange and reduced to one hour in an attempt to save the declining show. Fred Griffith, was "demoted" to a simple field reporter and Mark Johnson took his place, along with former FOX 8 in the Morning host Robin Swoboda. The resulting show was far from the program viewers were used to and ratings suffered even more.
In 1999, WEWS announced that after 27 years, The Morning Exchange would be going off the air. The last program featured "MX Moments" from over the years as well as live interviews with some of the hosts of morning shows that used the MX format, including Good Morning America and Live with Regis. When Charles Gibson of GMA came on, he told Fred Griffith, "How very odd," referring to the fact that The Morning Exchange helped to create Good Morning America and now essentially, GMA led to the downfall of MX.
[edit] External links
- Morning Exchange To Go Off The Air Sept. 10 - NewsNet5.com, June 29, 1999 - Announcement of the program's cancellation
- [1] - Funny Boxing Kangaroo on The Morning Exchange
