Joel Cheatwood
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Joel Cheatwood (born ) is an American
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
executive and founding
chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...
for Merit Street Media, a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
between
Phil McGraw Phillip Calvin McGraw (born September 1, 1950), also known as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality and author who is best known for hosting the talk show '' Dr. Phil''. He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased ...
and the
Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN; legally Trinity Broadcasting of Texas, Inc.) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN solicits donations on its Web site, a ...
. He is best known as the news director for WSVN in
Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, from 1988 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1997, implementing a highly successful, visually-based
tabloid journalism Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism, which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as a half broadsheet. The size became associated with sensationalism, an ...
format that has since been emulated and imitated at television stations across the country. Cheatwood also headed news operations for
WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo station WSNS-TV (chann ...
in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
when that station briefly employed
Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (February 13, 1944 – April 27, 2023) was a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, lawyer, and politician. He was best known for hosting the controversial tabloid talk show '' Jerry Springer'' from 1991 to 2 ...
as a commentator, and at
CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by CNN Worldwide, the network primarily carries true-crime programming, recently drifting away from limited live news programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982, by Tur ...
and
Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
, oversaw the development of two highly-rated but controversial talk shows, both hosted by
Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
. After Beck's 2011 departure from Fox News, Cheatwood was the founding chief content officer for his
streaming media Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a Computer network, network for playback using a Media player (disambiguation), media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of Network packet, packets from a Server (computing), ...
platform,
TheBlaze Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of Chief executive officer, CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. ...
.


Early life

Joel Cheatwood was born in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...
, and grew up in
Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...
. Joel was the only son of Donald and Eleanor Cheatwood, two evangelical ministers that were loosely affiliated with
Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...
tent meetings, hosted a radio show over area station KBIF, and operated a Christian bookstore in Fresno. Between the ages of 5 and 14, Cheatwood attended these tent meetings, served as an usher and sang with the choir. Cheatwood participated in the California Cadet Corps, and in 1971 was named most outstanding
non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...
in the seventh grade, at the time the youngest student participant to win the award. In high school, Cheatwood played on the high school baseball team and tried out for the
Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...
and
Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...
.


Career

Cheatwood was interested in newspaper journalism in high school, preferring it over television news, which he held an aversion over. While an undergraduate student at Fresno State from 1978 to 1981, Cheatwood worked for the ''Fresno Guide'' as a reporter, first as a sportswriter, then covering the City Hall beat. After the ''Guide'' folded in 1980, Cheatwood joined KFSN-TV in Fresno at age 20 as a news assignment editor. Cheatwood thrived in the immediacy of television, eventually overcoming a frequent
migraine Migraine (, ) is a complex neurological disorder characterized by episodes of moderate-to-severe headache, most often unilateral and generally associated with nausea, and light and sound sensitivity. Other characterizing symptoms may includ ...
and short temper to pursue management roles. Working as an
executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
for
KPIX-TV KPIX-TV (channel 5), branded on-air as CBS Bay Area, is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the CBS network outlet for the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS ...
in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, Cheatwood joined KMPH-TV in Fresno in late 1983 as a reporter and anchor; within eight months, he was elevated to news director. Between September 1985 and December 1987, Cheatwood worked as news director for WXEX-TV in
Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
, and assistant news director for
WEWS-TV WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of three stations that have been built and signed on ...
in
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
.


Tabloid television news

Cheatwood was hired as news director for WSVN in
Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, in January 1988. Then the market's
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
affiliate, WSVN lost the affiliation after NBC bought CBS affiliate WTVJ (channel 4) and CBS purchased Fox affiliate WCIX-TV (channel 6), triggering a complicated series of network affiliation switches on January 1, 1989. With the backing of WSVN owner Sunbeam Television, Cheatwood led the station's relaunch with a visually aggressive tabloid format beginning in September 1988 and a major expansion of newscast production, unheard of in the industry. While these plans were initially ridiculed in local media, WSVN's newscast ratings stabilized and increased throughout 1989, outdrawing WTVJ in multiple time periods. As 1990 began, WSVN was regarded in the industry as a major success story. Cheatwood also oversaw production of local shows for WSVN. ''Inside Story'' (later ''Inside Report'') was a
news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio, or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories in greater depth than newspapers or new ...
created as a replacement for the ''
NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas'' for its weeknight broadcasts ) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network ...
'', the program was a local ratings success and briefly syndicated in the fall of 1989. Sunbeam also launched an in-house
production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...
with Cheatwood as president. The Fox network, which WSVN affiliated with, hired Cheatwood in early 1990 to oversee the development of a possible network newscast. As part of the deal, Cheatwood was installed as news director for
KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned a ...
, Fox's west coast
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
, and oversaw the launch of ''Personalities'', a daily syndicated program hosted by
Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show ''Charlie Rose (talk show), Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg L.P., Bloombe ...
. Rose resigned as ''Personalities'' host after two months amid low ratings and disagreement over the show's direction, later conceding he had never watched ''Inside Report''. After the failure of ''Personalities'', Cheatwood returned to WSVN in March 1991 as vice president of news. Upon his return, a temporary newscast WSVN launched at 7:30 p.m. during the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict was converted to ''7:30'', an irreverent news magazine that attracted controversy for sensational, lurid topics mixed with cynicism. By January 1996, Cheatwood relaunched ''7:30'' as '' Deco Drive'', which remains on WSVN today. WSVN's newscast format attracted industry attention for a large volume of stories all short in length, a strong emphasis on crime, casual verbiage in reporting, video manipulation to show news footage in slow-motion or in black-and-white, and theatrics by the station's anchors. Cheatwood defended the format as a way to counter public perception of newscasts being slow and boring, a belief later echoed by Sunbeam chairman Edmund Ansin. After Sunbeam purchased
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
's then-CBS affiliate,
WHDH-TV WHDH (channel 7) is an independent television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is owned by Sunbeam Television alongside Cambridge-licensed CW affiliate WLVI (channel 56). WHDH and WLVI share studios at Bulfinch Place (n ...
, for $215 million, Cheatwood was appointed as vice president of news for both stations. WHDH adopted a tabloid format less aggressive than WSVN by comparison, but emerged as a ratings contender in the Boston market by the end of the decade. The WSVN tabloid format proved influential to television newscasts and was widely imitated—either in elements or as a whole—throughout the country, and also served as model for increased news production among current and new Fox affiliates.


WMAQ, KYW and WCBS

In February 1997, Cheatwood was hired by NBC as vice president of news for
WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo station WSNS-TV (chann ...
, the network's owned-station in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, in addition to varied projects for
MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...
and other digital ventures. That May, Cheatwood recruited
Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (February 13, 1944 – April 27, 2023) was a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, lawyer, and politician. He was best known for hosting the controversial tabloid talk show '' Jerry Springer'' from 1991 to 2 ...
as a "news analyst" for WMAQ's 10 p.m. news, an experiment which backfired when lead anchor Carol Marin resigned on-air in protest, followed by co-anchor Ron Magers; Springer was removed after two commentaries. One NBC executive estimated WMAQ lost more than $10 million in advertising revenue over the incident. Cheatwood later claimed Springer's usage as a commentator came after the general manager insisted on having Springer as an anchor; Princell Hair—who was WMAQ's news director under Cheatwood—claimed Springer was presented to him and Cheatwood as a ''fait accompli''. NBC reassigned Cheatwood in May 1998 to head daytime development for the network's owned-station group, a position that heretofore did not exist. By that September, Cheatwood was hired as station manager for
KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3), branded as CBS Philadelphia, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside WPSG (channel 57 ...
, the CBS-owned station in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. Cheatwood was promoted in April 2000 to be vice president of news for the CBS owned-station group and news director for network flagship
WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS New York, is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–lic ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Notably excluded from Cheatwood's oversight was
WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's CBS network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington St ...
, which now employed Marin as lead anchor. Deeply mired in third place behind NBC flagship
WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey†...
and ABC flagship
WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, WABC-TV maintains studios in the Hudson Square neighborhood ...
for nearly two decades prior amid continual turnover and repeated budget cuts, WCBS was dubbed "the hardest job in local television news" by veteran executive Al Primo. In addition to focusing on more tabloid content, Cheatwood established content partnerships with CBS's digital assets like CBS MarketWatch and CBS HealthWatch,
VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...
,
Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former pay-television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cover ...
, Hollywood.com and the ''
New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'' as a means to defer on additional talent hires, and re-hired Ernie Anastos as lead anchor; by October 2000, WCBS's newscasts were rebranded as the "CBS 2 Information Network". Under his direction, the station opened a full-time news bureau in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
,
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, in February 2002, with
CBS Radio News CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. It ...
reporter
Kimberly Dozier Kimberly Dozier (born July 6, 1966) is a contributor to CNN. She was previously contributortTIME Magazineancontributing writerfor ''The Daily Beast'' and covereintelligence and counterterrorismfor the Associated Press. Prior to that, she was a CB ...
as correspondent. Despite these changes, WCBS failed to sustain any positive ratings growth and suffered significant declines in the November 2001 sweeps. The failure was more pointed as WCBS was the only English-language television station to have a workable backup transmitter after the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
. By August 2002, WNBC news director Dianne Doctor was hired to take over Cheatwood's WCBS duties.


Cable news and conservative media

Cheatwood joined CNN in 2003 as a program development executive and advisor to network president Jon Klein. During this time, CNN added
Rick Sanchez Rick Sanchez is one of the two Title character, eponymous characters in the Adult Swim animated television series ''Rick and Morty'' and resulting Rick and Morty (franchise), multimedia franchise. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, he i ...
, a onetime WSVN anchor, to their lineup and started to implement more emotionally-driven stories, particularly in prime time. When
CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by CNN Worldwide, the network primarily carries true-crime programming, recently drifting away from limited live news programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982, by Tur ...
transitioned to talk-based programming at night, Cheatwood developed shows for
Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
and
Nancy Grace Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal pundit, commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace (TV program), Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs (news format), current affairs show ...
, along with ''
Showbiz Tonight ''Showbiz Tonight'' is a defunct American entertainment news program that aired from February 20, 2005, until February 6, 2014, on HLN. ''Showbiz Tonight'' was hosted by A. J. Hammer at CNN New York at the time of its cancellation. The show ...
'', garnering the highest ratings for the channel in that time period. Cheatwood hired Beck, a syndicated conservative radio host, under the belief Beck could adapt his persona for a television audience. By April 2007, Cheatwood joined
Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
as vice president of development for both the channel and the soon-to-be launched
Fox Business Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American conservative business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios ...
, reporting to
Roger Ailes Roger Eugene Ailes (May 15, 1940 â€“ May 18, 2017) was an American television executive and media consultant. He was the chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Television Stations and 20th Television. Ailes was a media consultant for Republic ...
. Cheatwood hired Beck to host a late-afternoon show for Fox News in October 2008. Beck chose to join Fox News as he and Cheatwood "speak the same language" and money was not a consideration. While a ratings success, Beck espoused multiple controversial statements and rhetoric, was subject to 296 individual advertisers on Fox News withholding their commercials on his show, and saw Cheatwood eventually lose Ailes' backing and become marginalized. Fox News and Beck's production company announced on April 6, 2011, that Beck would "transition off his daily program" by June 30, with Cheatwood becoming a "liaison" between the two parties. Beck moved his show to "GBTV", a
streaming media Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a Computer network, network for playback using a Media player (disambiguation), media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of Network packet, packets from a Server (computing), ...
venture, and Cheatwood was named president of programming. "GBTV" was renamed
TheBlaze Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of Chief executive officer, CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. ...
in June 2012, and Cheatwood became president and chief content officer, later adding oversight of a radio news service TheBlaze created for Sirius XM Patriot. Cheatwood also oversaw the acquisition of programming for TheBlaze, including from
Vince Vaughn Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American actor. He is known for starring as a leading man in numerous comedy films during the late 1990s and 2000s. He was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award ...
and
Peter Billingsley Peter Billingsley (born April 16, 1971), also known as Peter Michaelsen and Peter Billingsley-Michaelsen, is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for portraying Ralphie Parker in ''A Christmas Story'' and ''A Christmas Story Christm ...
's production company, Wild West Picture Show Productions. Cheatwood officially parted ways with TheBlaze in February 2015; he resigned along with CEO Chris Balfe to lead a digital media startup, Red Seat Ventures. Cheatwood was later implicated in a
defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
lawsuit filed against Beck by Abdulrahman Alharbi, whom Beck repeatedly claimed had financed the
Boston Marathon bombing The Boston Marathon bombing, sometimes referred to as simply the Boston bombing, was an Islamist domestic terrorist attack that took place during the 117th annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarna ...
despite law enforcement clearing Alharbi; in early 2016, Beck claimed in depositions that Cheatwood and TheBlaze's investigations unit director Joe Weasel had direct knowledge of the sources within the
Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...
but refused to divulge names.


Merit Street Media

In November 2023,
Phil McGraw Phillip Calvin McGraw (born September 1, 1950), also known as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality and author who is best known for hosting the talk show '' Dr. Phil''. He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased ...
announced the formation of Merit Street Media, a
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
–based news and entertainment media outlet slated to launch in early 2024, with Joel Cheatwood serving as the network's
chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...
. The following month, McGraw and
Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN; legally Trinity Broadcasting of Texas, Inc.) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN solicits donations on its Web site, a ...
agreed to make Merit Street a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
, with TBN assisting in distribution. Cheatwood will also oversee Merit Street's news service, which McGraw intends to keep separate from his on-air analysis; explaining the organizational structure, McGraw said Cheatwood "...is a savant in news and news programming. Me telling him about picking news stories would be like a jackass telling a
racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...
how to run. I’m not gonna do that." Four months after launching, Merit Street laid off 30 percent of their workforce. Cheatwood said production staff would now collaborate on all future programming over the network, calling the typical approach of news, sports and entertainment divisions "outdated" and "hindered productivity". Prior to joining Merit Street, Cheatwood consulted for
Tegna Inc. Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publ ...


Personal life

Cheatwood married Neva Cheatwood in 1983 when both were co-workers at KMPH. Neva has since worked at various stations alongside Joel, including WHDH and WMAQ-TV. They have had two children, both from a previous marriage. In a 1996 ''
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' interview, Cheatwood disclosed he is a Christian but does not attend church.


Filmography


Television


Film

* 2013 – ''The Performance'' (executive producer) * 2015 – ''Prescription Thugs'' (executive producer) * 2018 – ''GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon'' (executive producer) * 2022 – ''Fight for Football: Saving the 2020 Season'' (executive producer)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheatwood, Joel Blaze Media people Living people American television executives 1958 births