Sam Champion: ‘It All Starts With the Weather’

By Jordan Chariton 

samChampionNew Managing Editor of The Weather Channel Sam Champion assured advertisers yesterday that the additions of news, sports, and documentary programming to the network won’t take away from what viewers want to see most.

“It all starts with the weather,” Champion said yesterday at The Weather Channel’s advertising upfront. Champion also told The New York Times he is excited that his new show, “America’s Morning Headquarters”— which debuts March 17 from 7amET to 10amET—will be live in all time zones as opposed to being tape delayed.

“That’s a big deal for me and, I think, a big deal for the Weather Channel,” Mr. Champion said, adding that when discussions at “Good Morning America” turned to viewership being “soft on the West Coast,” he would reply, “‘Oh, oh, I know why: It’s a three-hour-old show by the time they see it.’”

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Champion spoke with Metro New York about shaking up traditional morning TV:

Morning are different in my house than they were in my parents’ house. Your first connection to the world is not your television. Your first connection to the world is multiplatform from the moment your phone goes off. You check your messages, Twitter and Facebook and you have an understanding of the running headlines but you might have some questions. I don’t want to see the stuff in the morning that I saw in my evening newscast because I already saw them online.

And appearing on “Morning Joe” this morning, Champion promised one thing:

“We’re not going to do politics…we’re not going to get heavy into that,” suggesting to Mika Brzezinski that viewers can surf between “Morning Joe” and “AMHQ” for their politics and weather fix.

Champion on “Morning Joe” after the jump.

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