Joel Cheatwood

Joel Cheatwood is an American television executive best known for creating modern news formats which combine flashy presentation with substantive information to make news more accessible for younger audiences.

Cheatwood first came to prominence in 1989, while serving as news director at WSVN in Miami. The longtime NBC affiliate had recently switched to Fox as part of a major shakeup in South Florida television. Station owner Ed Ansin responded by pouring most of the station's resources into its news department. With Ansin's backing, Cheatwood adopted an "if it bleeds, it leads" format heavy on flashy graphics and crime stories. Cheatwood was often criticized for an emphasis on sensationalistic reporting, as it was often overlooked that crime was a major concern for the people of Miami at the time. However, the "7 News" format revived a station that had never been a factor in the Miami ratings while it was an NBC affiliate. It also heavily influenced what Fox stations' newscasts would look like for many years to come.

In 1993, Ansin bought WHDH-TV in Boston. Like WSVN, WHDH had long been a ratings also-ran. Ansin brought Cheatwood to Boston in hopes of turning the station around. By this time, Cheatwood's reputation in television news was such that many of the station's veteran reporters resigned. Cheatwood introduced an entirely new format to the station which led to a huge ratings boost, especially after the longtime CBS affiliate joined NBC in 1995. It soon shot to second place in the Boston ratings, and for the last decade has regularly traded first place with long-dominant WCVB-TV. In 2002, the Columbia Journalism Review rated WHDH's newscast as the best in the United States.

In 1997, Cheatwood moved to WMAQ-TV in Chicago as vice president of news. Although the decision was made by WMAQ-TV before Cheatwood was brought onto the scene, Cheatwood is often mistakenly criticized for bringing Jerry Springer on as a commentator. The station's longtime anchor team, Carol Marin and Ron Magers, resigned in protest. [ [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0704050657apr06,1,3729738.column "The Times they are a-changin'?", Phil Rosenthal, "Chicago Tribune", April 7, 2007] ] Springer only made two commentaries before being let go, and station management later admitted that his hiring was a mistake. Cheatwood took the fall for the management's decision and was later moved to serve as a consultant for NBC (WMAQ is an NBC O&O).

In 2000, Cheatwood moved to WCBS-TV in New York City as news director. He also doubled as executive vice president of news for all of CBS' O&Os. At the time, once-proud WCBS-TV had been in last place in the New York ratings for five years. Soon after his arrival, WCBS-TV adopted a format that, while watered-down compared to WSVN and even WHDH, was still much flashier than had been the case on New York's Big Three affiliates. In August, he rebranded the station as the "CBS 2 Information Network," using "content partners" such as "U.S. News & World Report" and VH1. He also moved most of the station's newscasts to the CBS Sports studio. This caused a few problems whenever the sports department needed the studio on the weekends. For instance, the studio sported "CBS Sports" rather than "CBS 2" logos at times. He also renamed the 11pm newscast "Nightcast," giving it its own graphics and music. The changes had made positive impact, but were shortly tossed as a result management restructuring by the newly signed Dennis Swanson. As a result, the full result of the changes implemented by Cheatwood is something that the world may never know. Swanson later reorganized management in such a way in such a way that Cheatwood's duties would be performed by other individuals, effectively removing a potential rival.

On December 19, 2006, Ansin Bought WLVI, Bostons's CW Station.

During his tenure at WCBS, Cheatwood is also known for running the stations operations throughout the September 11, 2001 crisis, providing a sizable portion of footage that otherwise would have been unavailable.

After finishing out his contract with CBS, Cheatwood was hired as executive director of program development at CNN.

In April 2007, Cheatwood joined the Fox News Channel as Vice President of Development. [ [http://broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6431180.html "CNN's Cheatwood Heads to FNC", "Broadcasting & Cable", April 6, 2007] ]

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