Lunden Will Host Show to Be Aired in Waiting Rooms

Joan Lunden, co-host of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” has been signed to serve a similar role for a new television program that Whittle Communications plans to put in medical waiting rooms this fall.

Lunden has signed a three-year contract to host Special Reports Television, a commercially sponsored TV show that premieres in October.

Whittle Communications, based in Knoxville, Tenn., expects the one-hour program will be airing continuously in 20,000 doctor’s reception areas by January, reaching an annual audience of nearly 50 million viewers, mainly young mothers.

The company is approaching advertisers about buying commercial time on the programs and is recruiting doctors who will let it put its television sets in their waiting rooms and will play the program through the working day.