Cheryl Annette Burton (born December 25, 1962) is an American

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

who has been working for WLS–TV, an American Broadcasting Company-owned and operated television station in

Chicago, Illinois 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 ...

, since 1992. Burton anchors the station's 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscast alongside Ravi Baichwal and Rob Elgas. She formerly anchored for the 7pm newscast on

WCIU-TV WCIU-TV (channel 26) is an independent television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is the flagship television property of locally based Weigel Broadcasting, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to two ...

alongside Hosea Sanders. She also currently anchors the digital 6:30 p.m. newscast alongside Rob Elgas.

Biography

Early life and education

Burton was born at Provident Hospital in Chicago, the fourth of five children to Hattie, a

Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, fourth-large ...

teacher and Simpson Burton, a

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

veteran. For high school, Burton attended and graduated from Lindblom Technical High School (now known as Lindblom Math & Science Academy) in 1980. Burton graduated from the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

where she received her B.S. in Psychology and Biology. She is a member of

Delta Sigma Theta Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emp ...

Sorority In North America, fraternities and sororities ( and ) are social clubs at colleges and universities. They are sometimes collectively referred to as Greek life or Greek-letter organizations, as well as collegiate fraternities or collegiate sorori ...

. In 2007, she was the first alumna inducted into the school's hall of fame.

Professional career

Prior to Burton beginning her career in broadcasting, she was on television on ''

Romper Room ''Romper Room'' is an American children's television series that was franchised and syndicated from 1953 to 1994. The program targeted preschoolers (children five years of age or younger), and was created and produced by Bert Claster and his ...

'', as a contestant on ''

Star Search ''Star Search'' (later known as ''Ed McMahon's Star Search'') is an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./ Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 29 ...

'', and hosted an hour long cable TV show called ''Simply Elegant''. Burton's broadcasting career began in 1989 at

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

in Chicago where she co-anchored "MBR: The Minority Business Report", a nationally syndicated weekly series. In 1990, she moved to

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

, where she worked as a reporter at

WMBD-TV WMBD-TV (channel 31) is a television station in Peoria, Illinois, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to Bloomington-licensed Fox affiliate WYZZ-TV (channel 43) under a local ...

. From 1990 to 1992, she was an anchor at

KWCH-DT KWCH-DT (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Hutchinson, Kansas, United States, serving the Wichita area as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CW affiliate KSCW-DT (channel 33) and maintains studios on 3 ...

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

. Burton joined WLS-TV in 1992 as a weekend co-anchor/reporter. In 2003, she was promoted to 5 p.m. weekday co-anchor and 10 p.m. contributing anchor with Ron Magers and Kathy Brock. In addition to being on television, Burton was a

cheerleader Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ent ...

. She was part of the Chicago Honey Bears cheerleading squad for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

for three seasons from 1983-1986. On June 12, 2018,

WLS-TV WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's ABC network outlet. It has been owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division since the station's inception. ...

announced that Burton would replace retiring anchor Kathy Brock as the 10pm anchor alongside

Alan Krashesky Alan Krashesky (born October 19, 1960) is a former American news anchor. He was the principal news anchor for WLS-TV, an American Broadcasting Company-owned and operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. Career Krashesky was with ABC 7 sta ...

. Burton anchored the 5pm show and 7pm show on

until it was discontinued in 2019. Due to a comment by Mark Giangreco, Cheryl complained to management which led to his termination.

Accomplishments/Volunteer Work

Burton was the first recipient of the 2005 "Sisters in the Spirit" Award, a religious award. She was also the recipient of the 2009

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

Award for her outstanding community service. In 2008, Burton won the NABJ (National Association of Black Journalist) Salute to Excellence International. In the year of 2004 and 2005, she was honored with the Thurgood Marshall Award. Also in 2004, the Chicago Association of Black Journalist (CABJ) honored Burton with the Russ Ewing Award for her coverage of the E2 nightclub tragedy. In 1998, she was honored for her profession with the Kizzy Image and Achievement Award. Burton received the Phenomenal Woman Award in 1997, and she was also awarded CABJ for coverage of the Million Man March. Burton

volunteer Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency ...

for the

Boys & Girls Clubs of America Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) is a national organization of local chapters which provide voluntary after-school programs for young people. The organization, which holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code, has i ...

. She is also a public speaker for the students of the

. She is a participant in the Rush-Presbyterian/St. Luke's fashion show. Burton is also a board member of the Life with Lupus Guild.

Personal

Burton has been married once and has no children. From 1986 until 1995, Burton was married to ABC 7 sports reporter Jim Rose. Rose, who had been dating Burton when she was a Chicago Bears cheerleader, proposed on the Friday night before

Super Bowl XX Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

in New Orleans. On April 23, 2008, Burton, along with 4 others (5 separate attacks), was injured after a man punched them in the head or face. 28-year-old Gregory Perdue went on a fist-throwing rampage down a sidewalk in downtown Chicago. Burton was hit while on her dinner break. She was walking near Washington St. and State Street when she was hit in the head by what she thought was a bullet. She was however, hit by a punch in the head from Perdue which knocked her to the ground. An

X-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

and

CAT Scan A computed tomography scan (CT scan), formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...

revealed no severe damage, but she said she suffered from headaches for months following the attack. At the trial, Perdue's attorney said Perdue was schizophrenic. Perdue was found not guilty on five counts of

aggravated battery Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault, which is the act of creating reasonable fear or apprehension of such contact. Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more gen ...

. The judge instead remanded Perdue to the state Department of Mental Health until April 2015.

References

External links

ABC 7 Chicago BioCheryl Burton Q & A
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Cheryl Living people 1962 births American television journalists Television anchors from Chicago Delta Sigma Theta members American cheerleaders American female dancers Dancers from Illinois NFL cheerleaders American women television journalists 21st-century American women Robert Lindblom Math & Science Academy alumni University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni