Jonathan Wald, former producer at the Today show and senior vice president of CNBC, will take the reins as executive producer of CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, which is set to debut January 2011. The talk show will be filling the space vacated by Larry King, who is leaving his show at the network after hosting for 25 years. According to a CNN press release, Wald assumes the role effective immediately.
Morgan, who’s had a lengthy career in British newspapers and television news, was for months rumored to be the one chosen to fill the programming void at CNN. The network made the official announcement in September.
The full release is below.
Jonathan Wald, former executive producer of NBC’s Today and Nightly News, and former senior vice president of CNBC, has been named executive producer of CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight debuting in January 2011, it was announced today by CNN executive vice president Ken Jautz. Wald’s appointment is effective immediately.
“Jonathan has spent more than 20 years as a top producer in broadcast and cable television news and has the unique ability to produce television that is smart and provocative,” said Jautz. “We are thrilled that he’ll be joining the CNN family.”
Most recently Wald has been an advisor to AOL on cross-platform programming initiatives. From 2006-2009, Wald served as senior vice president of CNBC, responsible for all business news programming. During a period of unprecedented financial and economic crisis, CNBC expanded business coverage into primetime and weekends, resulting in the highest ratings and revenue in the network’s history. Wald was also responsible for multimedia development and the use of business news on cnbc.com as well as marketing and promotion of that content on all platforms.
Said Wald, “CNN is an important news organization and a powerful worldwide brand. I am so excited to join this team. I can’t wait to get started and to collaborate with Piers on redefining the long-form interview program in primetime.” Wald, a three-time Emmy Award winner, was the executive producer ofToday where he led the program’s distinguished coverage during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the contested 2000 presidential election, and the first live morning show performance by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Prior to Today, he was the executive producer of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw where he was responsible for all aspects of the top-rated flagship broadcast.
“Jonathan is tough, funny, smart as hell, incredibly experienced, and wants to win,” said Morgan.
He began his career as a desk assistant at NBC News in 1983 while a freshman at Columbia University, then moved to WBZ-TV (Boston) where he produced every major broadcast including the 11 o’clock news. He returned to New York as a field producer for NBC’s Brian Williams in 1993. Wald received a B.A. from Columbia and since 2001, serves on the adjunct faculty at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. He is married, and lives in New York City with his wife and two children.
