Cheryl Jennings has been at KGO-TV/ABC7 in SF since 1979 and is generally regarded as one of the most dedicated news people in the business. Her unassuming style in the anchor chair, combined with a steady, no-nonsense approach to delivering the news is a chief asset.
Jennings is something of an anomaly in major-market TV news: she's considered "old" by business standards. Sure, it helps that Jennings is attractive and "easy on the eyes", (uh, TV is a visual medium) yet by most industry standards, the idea of a middle-aged woman anchor, no matter how talented, how versatile, is almost unheard of these days. Cynical? Sure. Reality? Yes.
Jennings exact age isn't known, but one would guess she's in her mid-to-late 50's. For a lot of women in TV news, whether reporting and/or anchoring, the post-50 era is often times the beginning of the end. Again, that sounds cruel, but in an increasingly competitive and bottom-line mentality like local TV news, it is fact.
Or have you not seen the growing legion of decidedly younger, cheaper, and yes, cute newswomen that have become a constant in the business. Its easy to go straight to Fox News and see their notorious staple of blond and young anchors, pundits, but the "young and cheap" model is most evident in the local news biz.
Jennings certainly has earned her stripes. An emmy winner, she joined ABC7 in 1979 as a general assignment reporter and became the weekend news anchor in 1986. In 1988, she was promoted to weekday anchor. She's a pioneer in reporting on children's issues, women's rights and domestic violence and has been recognized locally and nationally for her active involvement.
Recently, Jennings was selected by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Northern California Chapter for the 2009 Governor's Award for truly outstanding and unique accomplishments.
