'Good Morning America' the most popular morning television show in the USA broadcasts live from Kilkenny in Ireland.
American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Television’s ‘Good Morning America’ is the most popular breakfast time television in the United States, with an audience of up to five million homes.
Tens of millions of American homes wake up to this programme each morning.
About three times a year the show places itself abroad and for the second time, Bord Fáilte (Irish Tourist Board) has succeeded in attracting the show to Ireland.
Streets in Kilkenny City are closed so that a camera stage can be built for ‘Good Morning America’ presenters Joan London and Charles Gibson in the Castle Parade.
A crew of 80 are on hand while other crews had earlier spent several weeks shooting special reports covering everything from President Ronald Reagan's ancestral home of Ballyporeen, to the writer James Joyce.
The show, shot with RTÉ back up and transmitted via satellite went on air at noon, 7am in America, with shots of Kilkenny and its castle and a welcome from Mayor Mayor of Kilkenny Kieran Crotty.
ABC producer Patrick Tague said they came to Ireland because the country has a special place in the hearts of Americans. However they also felt it was a country surrounded by myth, and they decided to dispel some of it.
We decided we wanted to come here and show people back in America what Ireland is really all about.
While the programme covers some hard issues, it also showcases tourist destinations such as Kilkenny Castle and the Mount Juliet Estate. Joe Lynam of Bord Fáilte believes this will bring an immeasurable benefit to the country as a whole and to Kilkenny in particular.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 18 May 1990. The reporter is Michael Ryan.
