• The Wall Street Journal, Friday, June 9, 2006 11:15 AM

ABC'S "Good Morning America" dearly wants to grab the No. 1 morning slot, but just as NBC's dominant "Today"--with the departure of Katie Couric--seems ripe for a fall, "GMA" is having some problems of its own, The Wall Street Journal reports. In the last six months, the show has lost its host, weatherman, and executive producer, and there have been rumors that co-host Diane Sawyer is ready to up and leave. The stakes are high in the battle between the two programs, as early-morning news shows are garnering ever more viewers and ad dollars--a contrast to the network evening news broadcasts, which have been in a long and steady decline. "The morning shows are the inheritors of the old function of the evening news," says Bob Bengtson, a former ABC News executive. "For a lot of people, the morning is the new dinnertime."

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