(Not) Waking Up To American Morning

On Tuesday, the day before CNN vice president for morning programming Kim Bondy stepped down, American Morning averaged just 330,000 viewers, and only 92,000 in the 25-54 demographic. With 836,000 viewers and 340,000 in the demo, Fox & Friends had more demo viewers than AM had total viewers.

In March 2005, when Bondy became VP, American Morning averaged 551,000 viewers. That same month, Fox & Friends averaged 946,000. In February, AM’s ratings had declined to 416,000 viewers. (To be fair, F&F’s have dipped slightly, to 914,000.) Bondy’s memo said she asked for some time off “to deal with my post-Katrina life.”

But two anonymous tipsters have pointed to the ratings as another reason for a change at the top. With a 24 percent decline in twelve months, one has to wonder how longer she would have lasted, even without Katrina…