Cheryl Wills, the Emmy-award-winning journalist and author at Spectrum News NY1, is starting a new chapter at the cable news channel as the anchor of “New York Tonight” every weeknight at 8 p.m. and “NY1 at Ten” at 10 p.m., a new three-hour evening lineup.
“I have been here since the launch of NY1, so I’ve been through all the different phases and this is the most exciting one yet,” Wills said.
Wills leads coverage on breaking news and top stories of the day, as well as hosting the weekly public affairs show, “In Focus with Cheryl Wills.”
For the evening lineup, Wills plans to continue her goal of delivering quality news and sustaining a positive relationship with viewers.
“People watch us very carefully and feel a special kinship with NY1,” she said. “We’re your neighborhood news channel, and there are people who have watched us from day one. We want to hold on to them, and we want to attract more people to Spectrum. We do that by upholding the highest standards of journalism.”
As Wills approaches her 33rd anniversary at NY1, she said she has become a better journalist, refining her writing skills and tailoring her reporting to viewers’ needs.
“I’ve covered every major event in this city over the last three decades, and I’ve evolved in a very positive way during that time,” she said. “Writing is an ever-evolving skill, but I feel very comfortable now as a senior news writer here, overseeing a lot of the writing on my shows … [and] as a broadcaster, giving viewers what I know they want, how they want to hear it, and how they want it delivered.”
Wills started at NY1 when it first launched more than 30 years ago. She said what appealed to her about the channel was the opportunity to help build it from the ground up.
“What attracted me to NY1 was that we were starting something new,” she recalled. “We were going to be laser-focused on New York City — the city that I was born in, the city my father fought fires in — and we wanted to bring 24/7 news that wasn’t always sensational; to bring you the story about the little local grocer who is struggling to keep his store open … That’s not news to some outlets, but for us, he’s important.”
Wills said she considers it her responsibility to highlight people and experiences that may generally go unrecognized by news outlets; a responsibility that stems from her childhood. She grew up in low-income housing and had minimal access to connections and other resources.
“No one gave me anything,” she said. “I didn’t have any connections to the news business at all. I lived on the seventh floor of a suffocating public housing development in Queen, and all I had was a dream.”
Earning a degree from Syracuse University allowed Wills to turn that dream into a reality. She chose the college for its rigorous journalism program. Just a few years after graduating, she brought her expertise to the experiment of NY1, never forgetting her “humble beginnings.”
“I feel that’s a responsibility I have as an anchor here at NY1— to show the best of our city, even though we also have a lot of challenging parts, too,” she said. “I love to go back to low-income developments and report on positive stories there because, generally speaking, they usually get the negative end of the news. They get the perp walks, they get the fires, but there are a lot of positive things also happening in public housing, a lot of success stories, and I like to balance that out.”
Wills also draws on her father’s legacy as inspiration for her work, recollecting his fondness for reporters. As a NYC firefighter, he would frequently come into contact with journalists as they reported on incidents.
“He loved reporters because when he would fight fires, the reporters were always there. He was kind of fascinated by them,” Wills said. “I’m sorry that my father didn’t get a chance to see me become one of those reporters, but I truly do it in his honor.”
For Wills, her promotion to the primetime three-hour lineup and her 33-year legacy as a journalist is simply a testament to her hard work and grit. She makes an effort to mentor aspiring journalists and clear a path for future generations of journalists of color.
“I knew no one. I had no connections. I was raised in public housing. I had a dead father, and my professors told me I didn’t have the look to be an anchor, and here I am,” she said. She urged aspiring colleagues to “do what it is you want to do in this field. Do not give up. A door will open, and if the door isn’t open, you’ll have to climb through the window, and if the window is shut, then you’ll break a hole through the roof.”