World News Now (WNN) is ABC's overnight news program. Its presentation is typically lighthearted, irreverent, and comical. Several well-known news personalities, including Thalia Assuras (CBS News), Aaron Brown (CNN), Alison Stewart (MSNBC and NPR), Liz Cho, and Anderson Cooper (CNN) have anchored WNN early in their careers.
The show is produced and airs live in three half-hour segments from 2:00AM ET through 3:30AM ET, Monday Morning-Friday Morning. At 3:30ET, many local affiliates rebroadcast the show (in some cases multiple times) until 4:30AM local time at which time America This Morning is aired. A WNN anchor usually also anchors America This Morning, back-to-back.
WNN was most recently anchored by Ryan Owens and Taina Hernandez in New York City. Hernandez left the show on December 18, 2007, to spend more time with her kids, while Owens announced on February 29, 2008 he was leaving the show to become a full time correspondent for ABC News.
Currently, the show is being anchored by Gigi Stone and Tanya Rivero. It is currently not known whether they will be the new anchor team, or are filling in until new anchors are officially named.
When ABC was bought by Disney in the mid-'90s, the lyrics of the World News Now Theme Song were slightly altered. Originally "Who cares what the network says / or the sponsors too", the line was changed to "Who cares what the network says / They're a Goofy crew".
