CBS HIRES EX-PRODUCER OF ABC’S ‘MORNING’ SHOW

Susan Winston, a former executive producer of ABC’s “Good Morning America” and once rumored a prime candidate to become executive producer of the struggling “CBS Morning News,” was hired Tuesday by CBS News--but not to run that program, at least not right away.

Winston, whose background has been more in talk-entertainment shows than news, will join CBS News on May 5 as executive director of morning news planning, a spokesman said. She also will study and analyze the program and its rivals, and make recommendations.

The previous executive producer of the “CBS Morning News” was Johnathan Rodgers, a news veteran who after only five months on the job was promoted to CBS corporate ranks as vice president and general manager of CBS-owned WBBM-TV in Chicago.

His successor has not yet been picked, and the program currently is run by acting executive producer David Corvo. However, a source close to the program said it is probable that Winston will be named as its permanent executive producer in July or August.

If that happens, she would be the sixth person to hold the job in seven years, and the second former head of “Good Morning America”--George Merlis was the first--to try to pull it out of its perennial position as No. 3 in the morning-news-entertainment-show ratings race.

Her career as a producer includes work on “The Mike Douglas Show,” NBC’s short-lived midday program “America Alive” and, until she left it in November, the syndicated talk-show series “America.” The series, which premiered in September, died after four months of low ratings.

Winston, who worked in development for both ABC News and ABC Sports from January to June last year, was executive producer of ABC’s “Good Morning America” from 1981 to 1984, when the program began its rise to dominance in the morning ratings.

In recent weeks, it has been running a close second to NBC’s revived “Today Show.”

Meanwhile in the evening news wars, “NBC Nightly News” tied “CBS Evening News” for the first time in four years, according to Nielsen ratings for last week released on Tuesday.

“Nightly,” anchored by Tom Brokaw, tied the Dan Rather-anchored “Evening News” (the ratings leader since February, 1982) with a rating of 11.8, which represents 10.1 million homes. ABC’s “World News Tonight,” anchored by Peter Jennings, was third, with a 10.9 rating for the week ending April 4.

Despite the good news for NBC, uncertainty continued for its new newsmagazine series, “American Almanac.” The show, which had a six-program tryout run last year, was twice scheduled to join NBC’s prime-time schedule this year, then was postponed again in February for more work.

There have been persistent rumors within NBC News that “Almanac” would be given up as an ambitious effort that failed, primarily because it was too slow-paced, needed timelier stories and lacked the edge and bite to survive in prime time.

NBC News President Larry Grossman, who sources said flew to Washington on Monday to screen the latest version of “Almanac,” hasn’t made any decision about its fate yet, a spokeswoman said. She said the program still “is in the process of being looked at and we’ll probably have an announcement about it later this week.”

“Almanac,” anchored by Roger Mudd, premiered last August, shortly after the debut of CBS’ second prime-time newsmagazine series, the flashy, controversial “West 57th.”

Like NBC’s effort, the CBS program had a six-week tryout, then was taken off the air, as previously planned, pending a decision on when it would resume. It now is scheduled to begin a 13-week Wednesday-night run starting on April 30, 10 days after the end of the current 30-week prime-time season.