Chris Licht

Christopher Andrew Licht is an American television newsman and producer. Since April 2016, he has been the showrunner and executive producer of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, as well as CBS's executive vice president of special programming. He is best known for having launched Morning Joe on MSNBC and the reboot of CBS This Morning. He will depart CBS sometime in May 2022 to become the chairman and CEO of CNN.[2]

Chris Licht
BornOctober 1971 (age 50)
Newtown, Connecticut, U.S.
EducationSyracuse University (BA)
OccupationPresident of CNN
Years active1993–present
EmployerCNN
Notable work
Spouse(s)
Jenny Blanco
​
(m. 2006)​
[1]
Children2

Early life and education

Licht was born to Susan Licht and Dr. Peter Licht of Newtown, Connecticut.[1][3] He graduated from Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism and political science.[4][5][6] In 2014, one of the TV news control rooms at Syracuse's Dick Clark Studios and Alan Gerry Center for Media Innovation was named in his honor.[7]

Career

Licht began his career at KNBC in Los Angeles around the time of the O.J. Simpson trial. He also worked with local NBC affiliates in LA and San Francisco markets.[8][9]

In 2005, he joined MSNBC as the executive producer for Scarborough Country and later was the founding executive producer of Morning Joe, which he and host Joe Scarborough helped create prior to its launch in 2007.[10]

He joined CBS in 2011 and was named vice president of programming at CBS News.[11][12] Licht was the executive producer of CBS This Morning starting when the show launched in 2012, and later joined The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2016. While in charge of CBS This Morning, he was credited with making the show unexpectedly successful, giving CBS its most competitive place in the morning show race in almost 30 years. This success occurred partly because Licht allowed the show's hosts Gayle King, Charlie Rose, and Norah O'Donnell, to talk freely about news events and about themselves.[13][14][15] A month after he was named executive producer and showrunner of The Late Show, the show saw its largest weekly audience since February 19 of that year.[16] As executive producer, he focused on management issues that host Stephen Colbert had previously handled, as well as shortening the opening credits and adding a comedy sketch immediately before them.[15][17]

CNN Chairman and CEO

After the abrupt resignation of CNN president Jeff Zucker in February 2022, Licht was named his successor on February 26, 2022.[18][19]

On his first day as chairman and CEO of CNN, Licht sent a memo to all employees saying, "Sadly too many people have lost trust in the news media. I think we can be a beacon in regaining that trust by being an organization that exemplifies the best characteristics in journalism: fearlessly speaking truth to power, challenging the status quo, questioning ‘group-think’ and educating viewers and readers with straightforward facts and insightful commentary, while always being respectful of differing viewpoints. First and foremost, we should, and we will be advocates for truth."[20]

Awards

While Licht was executive producer of CBS This Morning, the series won a Peabody Award and three Emmy Awards (one Daytime Emmy Award and two News & Documentary Emmy Awards).[21] As CBS This Morning's executive producer, he was co-nominated for three Emmy Awards in 2015: one for Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast, one for Outstanding Feature Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast, and one for Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast.[22] The following year, the series won an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Journalism in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast for a story on fraud at compounding pharmacies, which he co-executive produced with Steve Capus.[23]

Personal life

On April 28, 2010, Licht was in a Cadillac Escalade on the way to a hotel in Washington, D.C. when he had a near-fatal cerebral hemorrhage. He later wrote a book about the resulting experience, What I Learned When I Almost Died: How a Maniac TV Producer Put Down His BlackBerry and Started to Live His Life, which was published in 2011.[24][25] Joe Biden, the then vice-president and a survivor of an aneurysm himself, cold-called Dr. Vivek Deshmukh, a highly recommended neurosurgeon, to care for Licht.[3][26][27]

As of 2017, he lived in Manhattan with his wife, Jenny Blanco and their two sons.[28] Jenny worked at CNN for several years as a producer for Anderson Cooper and then as a director of talent recruiting and development.[19] Licht began dating her while they both were on assignment at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and got married in April 2006 at the L'Auberge Del Mar, in Del Mar, California.[1]

Work

Books
  • What I Learned When I Almost Died: How a Maniac TV Producer Put Down His BlackBerry and Started to Live His Life. Simon & Schuster. 2011. ISBN 9781451627671.

References
  1. "Jennifer Blanco and Christopher Licht". The New York Times. April 23, 2006. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  2. Stelter, Brian (February 28, 2022). "Chris Licht introduces himself to CNN as its next CEO". CNN. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
  3. Crevier, Nancy (May 27, 2011). "A Brush With Death-Newtown Native To Share 'What I Learned'". Newtown Bee. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  4. "Chris Licht: 50 Forward". Newhouse School Syracuse University. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  5. Cerqueiro, Pablo (2002). "Alumni News & Notes". Syracuse University Magazine. Vol. 19, no. 4. Syracuse University. p. 56.
  6. Herbert, Geoff (February 26, 2022). "Syracuse University alum Chris Licht selected as new CNN president". Syracuse Post-Standard. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  7. Ariens, Chris (September 29, 2014). "Syracuse Cuts Ribbon on Upgrades At S.I. Newhouse School". Adweek. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  8. Stelter, Brian (February 26, 2022). "Chris Licht has been selected as next president of CNN". CNN Business. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  9. Morgan, John W. (September 29, 2013). "Chris Licht, Executive Producer Of 'CBS This Morning,' To Discuss Network Morning News". NY Daily News. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  10. Ariens, Chris (April 15, 2016). "Chris Licht's Morning Show Send-Off". Adweek.
  11. Heilemann, John (May 20, 2011). "86 Minutes With Chris Licht". New York Magazine. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  12. Battaglio, Stephen (April 13, 2016). "'CBS This Morning' producer Chris Licht is new show runner for Colbert's 'Late Show'". Los Angeles Times.
  13. Koblin, John (April 14, 2016). "CBS Hopes for a Stephen Colbert Bump From a New Leader at 'The Late Show'". The New York Times.
  14. Battaglio, Stephen (February 26, 2022). "'Colbert' producer Chris Licht will be the new president of CNN". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  15. Koblin, John (April 9, 2017). "How Stephen Colbert Finally Found His Elusive Groove". The New York Times.
  16. Pallotta, Frank (May 12, 2016). "Stephen Colbert gets a bump after new producer takes the reins". CNN Money.
  17. Littleton, Cynthia (April 13, 2016). "'CBS This Morning' Exec Producer Tapped as Showrunner of 'Late Show With Stephen Colbert'". Variety.
  18. Byers, Dylan (February 26, 2022). "Jeff Zucker's Successor Is… Chris Licht". Puck. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  19. Grynbaum, Michael M.; Koblin, John (February 26, 2022). "Chris Licht, a Creator of 'Morning Joe' and 'Colbert' Producer, Is Set to Run CNN". The New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  20. Katz, A.J. (May 2, 2022). "The Chris Licht Era at CNN Starts Today". TVNewser. Adweek. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  21. "Chris Licht". CBS Press Express. CBS. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  22. Flood, Brian (July 22, 2015). "CBS Nominated for 44 News & Documentary Emmy Awards". Adweek. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  23. Staff (September 22, 2016). "'Frontline,' '60 Minutes' Dominate News and Documentary Emmy Awards (FULL LIST)". Variety. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  24. Grove, Lloyd (May 22, 2011). "'Killer Producer' Chris Licht's New Life". The Daily Beast.
  25. Licht, Chris (May 24, 2011). "Near-death experience teaches TV producer how to live". TODAY.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  26. "Joe Biden goes into action for TV producer battling a brain hemorrhage". Washington Post. May 5, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  27. Sachs, Andrea (July 2, 2011). "Q&A: TV Exec Chris Licht on His Near-Death Experience". Time. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  28. "About Chris". Chrislicht.com.
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