Since the news broke last month that Diane Sawyer will be leaving ABC's Good Morning America to replace Charles Gibson on the network's flagship evening broadcast, such female broadcasters as Ashleigh Banfield and Suze Orman have eagerly volunteered to replace her.
But ABC executives are intent on finding a male anchor to pair with co-host Robin Roberts and restore the morning show's traditional male-female duo, according to multiple sources in and outside the network.
The network has cast a wide net in its search for Sawyer's successor, but it appears likely that the GMA co-host will be selected from within ABC's ranks, in part because such contenders as CNN's Anderson Cooper are locked in long-term contracts. A short list of candidates is widely believed to include This Week host George Stephanopoulos, World News Saturday anchor David Muir, GMA Weekend co-host Bill Weir and GMA news anchor Chris Cuomo.
The lack of a ready successor mystifies many ABC staffers who expressed bewilderment that executives did not have a plan in place for their most profitable program. But ABC's challenge in replacing Sawyer underscores how few superstars remain in an industry once dominated by high-wattage anchors tussling for coveted slots.
ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider declined to comment on the search process, noting that news-division president David Westin said he would make a decision by the end of the year. "The names that are out there frankly are nothing more than speculation," he said.
"We haven't made any decisions. This is a deliberate process. And while it may be hard for some people to understand that deliberate process, it is a process that has served us well in the past and we think will serve us well now."
Sawyer's departure could deal a huge blow to second-place GMA, which brings in the bulk of the revenue for ABC News -- $400 million out of a total of $700 million in 2008, according to calculations by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Without Sawyer's star power behind them, producers fret that they will be unable to go head-to-head with NBC's Today in the race to book exclusive interviews.
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