Joel Cheatwood (born c. September 1, 1958[1]) is an American television executive and founding chief operating officer for Merit Street Media, a joint venture between Phil McGraw and the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
[2][3] He is best known as the news director for WSVN in Miami, Florida, from 1988 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1997, implementing a highly successful, visually-based tabloid journalism format that has since been emulated and imitated at television stations across the country.
[6] Joel was the only son of Donald and Eleanor Cheatwood,[7] two evangelical ministers that were loosely affiliated with Pentecostal tent meetings,[8] hosted a radio show over area station KBIF,[9] and operated a Christian bookstore in Fresno.
[6] Working as an executive producer for KPIX-TV in San Francisco, Cheatwood joined KMPH-TV in Fresno in late 1983 as a reporter and anchor; within eight months, he was elevated to news director.
[20][21] With the backing of WSVN owner Sunbeam Television,[22] 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.
[29] As part of the deal, Cheatwood was installed as news director for KTTV, Fox's west coast flagship,[30] and oversaw the launch of Personalities, a daily syndicated program hosted by Charlie Rose.
[33] Upon his return, a temporary newscast WSVN launched at 7:30 p.m. during the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict was converted to 7:30,[34] an irreverent news magazine that attracted controversy for sensational, lurid topics mixed with cynicism.
[36][37] 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.
[35][38][39] Cheatwood defended the format as a way to counter public perception of newscasts being slow and boring,[40] a belief later echoed by Sunbeam chairman Edmund Ansin.
[6][44] 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.
[45][46] In February 1997, Cheatwood was hired by NBC as vice president of news for WMAQ-TV, the network's owned-station in Chicago, in addition to varied projects for MSNBC and other digital ventures.
[64] When CNN Headline News transitioned to talk-based programming at night, Cheatwood developed shows for Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace, along with Showbiz Tonight, garnering the highest ratings for the channel in that time period.
[68] While a ratings success, Beck espoused multiple controversial statements and rhetoric,[69][70][71] was subject to 296 individual advertisers on Fox News withholding their commercials on his show,[66] and saw Cheatwood eventually lose Ailes' backing and become marginalized.
[79] 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.