It would’ve been a great way to put Zephyrhills on the national stage. But as quickly as ABC’s “Good Morning America” was planning to do a live segment at Skydive City, it was gone.
Or is it?
Jenna Brossman, a spokeswoman with Skydive City, told The Laker/Lutz News this afternoon that the popular morning television show had planned on doing a segment next week ahead of the World Canopy Piloting Championships, but then cancelled the segment.
The plan was to have a member of the GMA team — reportedly Ginger Zee — do a live tandem jump with the Golden Knights parachute team from the U.S. Special Operations Command headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. The jump would’ve taken place in the early morning hours of Nov. 7 in the skies just above Zephyrhills.
One of the people coordinating the event told Brossman Tuesday that it was cancelled. However, Skydive City president and general manager T.K. Hayes told The Laker/Lutz News Wednesday afternoon that as far as he knew, the jump was still on.
“I just got an email from one of the people on the show an hour ago asking about logistics,” Hayes said.
However, the jump is totally separate from the canopy piloting championships taking place at the same time, and Hayes said he would prefer if the show moved its segment to MacDill rather than Zephyrhills, because of how busy the skies will be that morning with the competition.
“They contacted me 24 hours ago, and put this together really fast, so no one seems to be clear on what’s happening,” Hayes said. “I’m really busy right now getting ready for the championships, and this is just not a good time for them to do this.”
Why the segment was originally cancelled — or if it still is — was not shared, and a request for comment from the ABC show was pending return early Wednesday. However, segments like this come and go quite frequently, and can be cancelled for a number of reasons, including other news, logistics, or projected audience interest.
“Good Morning America” currently is the top-rated network morning program in the country with nearly 5.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Its hosts include Amy Robach, Robin Roberts, Laura Spencer, George Stephanopoulos, Michael Strahan and Zee.
The World Canopy Piloting Championships is set for Nov. 4-6 beginning at 7 a.m., at Skydive City at Sky Dive Lane in Zephyrhills. The cost is free, and more information can be found at CPWorldZhills.com.
This story was updated 10/26/14 at 2:30 p.m. to include comments from T.K. Hayes, and to include material that may contradict an earlier report that this segment was cancelled.
