What happened to ‘Early Start’ and Kasie Hunt on CNN?

“Early Start,” which aired 5 to 6 a.m. eastern on CNN, aired its last edition Feb. 23, 2024.

However, anchor Kasie Hunt can still be seen on CNN from 5 to 7 a.m. on an expanded version of the show, which has also been renamed “CNN This Morning.”

“CNN This Morning” was also the name of CNN’s former morning show that aired from 6 to 9 a.m., after “Early Start,” but had a different anchor and production team.

“Early Start” originally debuted in January 2012 and ran from 5 to 7 a.m. with Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin at the anchor desk. At the same time, CNN launched “Starting Point” with Soledad O’Brien from 7 to 9 a.m. in an attempt to create a new, cohesive block of morning programming.

CNN later added John Berman to the “Early Start” team later in May 2012, with Banfield exiting the next month. Sambolin left in December 2013 and was replaced with Christine Romans alongside Berman.

“Starting Point” was canceled in 2013, replaced with “New Day.”

In 2017, Berman moved to a later timeslot Dave Briggs co-anchored. Briggs left in 2019 and the network replaced him with Laura Jarrett. In 2020, the program switched to an hour length and Jarrett left in 2022, eventually ending up at NBC.

Romans then solo anchored the show until she left, also from NBC, in 2023. Hunt took over at that point.

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Prior to “Early Start” and “Starting Point,” CNN broadcast “American Morning” from 6 to 9 a.m. eastern.