Sam Champion

Sam Champion is a multiple Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning weather anchor for WABC-TV’s “Eyewitness News” and “Eyewitness News This Morning,” and he also regularly appears on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Champion’s longstanding association with WABC-TV began in 1988 when he joined “Eyewitness News” as the weather anchor for weekend and 5 p.m. broadcast, eventually becoming the main weather anchor for the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.

In 2006, Champion’s responsibilities expanded, and he was named weather anchor for ABC News’ “Good Morning America” and ABC News weather editor. During that time, he built ABC News’ Weather, Climate and Environment Unit and oversaw all weather, climate, and environmental coverage and content on all ABC platforms, including leading Peabody Award-winning coverage of Superstorm Sandy in 2012. He was also the longest embedded network anchor following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

In 2012, he joined the Weather Channel, where he served as managing editor and was responsible for developing and hosting the four-hour morning program “AMHQ” and the primetime climate and science interview series “23.5.”

Champion returned to WABC-TV in 2019 as a weather anchor.

In 2022, Champion joined Season 31 of “Dancing with the Stars” as a contestant partnered with professional dancer Cheryl Burke.

Before WABC-TV, Champion was a weekend anchor and news reporter at WPSD-TV in Paducah, Kentucky. He began his career as an intern at WKYT-TV in Lexington, Kentucky. He graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast news.

He was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2026 Fair Media Council Folio Awards, which celebrate excellence in news and media.