Cheryl McHenry ‘74 (2008 Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame Inductee) has covered just about every type of event in her award-winning, 40 year career at WHIO-TV.  The 1988 Democratic National Convention, papal visits from Saint John Paul II in 1987 and 1999, the return of the crew of the USS Cole of a terrorist bombing in 2000, and a trip to Bagram Air Base on a C-17 in 2015 are the assignments she remembers most, but McHenry has added her current assignment of covering the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI to that list.

Along with WHIO sports reporter James Rider and videographer Chuck Hamlin, McHenry will provide the Miami Valley with seven days of coverage of the Bengals’ third trip to the Super Bowl.  McHenry’s stories are centered around the fan experience of Super Bowl week.

“The reason we’re out here is to show our viewers what it’s like to be here, because most of them can’t be here,” McHenry said.  “Our job is to take them through the experience, show them the excitement here in LA, and make them feel like they are here.”

The workload is heavy and the pace is fast, and the three hour time difference of being thousands of miles away from home complicates logistics even more.  McHenry says her days start with 7 a.m. rides in a taxi or rideshare to a different part of Los Angeles, and filled with shooting video and interviews, catching rides back to their workspace in the hotel, preparing stories to send back to Dayton, and rushing to SoFi Stadium for liveshots in nearly all of Newscenter 7’s broadcasts.  At the end of the 13 hour work days, she hopes the rewarding yet challenging story ultimately concludes with the Bengals winning the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy.

“I’m more avid in years when they’re doing well because it hurts me to see teams that I like lose.  I had the opportunity to meet Anthony Munoz about a year ago.  I really love this team, and they’ve revived the Bengals fan in me.”

Covering an unpredictable story that has brought so many people together in a positive way is a much welcomed change of pace for McHenry compared to the major events of the past three years.  After sitting on the WHIO set to anchor coverage of massively destructive tornadoes on Memorial Day in 2019, the tragic Oregon District shooting in 2020, and nearly two years of a global pandemic, telling stories that put a smile on viewers’ faces is long overdue for McHenry.

“I think it’s great for our region and all of southwest Ohio because it gives people something to cheer about, something that unites them.  It’s just fun, and we haven’t had a lot of fun in the last two and a half years,” McHenry said.  “Now, to have something to cheer for and be proud of is wonderful.”