2018 Inductee
A broadcast journalist with 30 years of experience, some of the best assets Susan Cadot has brought to her broadcasting career are a creative vision for packaging a story and a remarkable talent for writing. She is an amazing story-teller who can weave a tale using just the right words to mesh with well-chosen images. When creating her segments, she also has the good sense to know when to be quiet and let the video tell the story. Photographers love to work with her. The result is a top-notch catalog of enticing television programs that will last for years in rebroadcast.
Susan began her career at Oklahoma City’s ABC Affiliate, KOCO TV 5 in 1989 where she worked on-air on “Good Morning, Oklahoma”. After 18 months at KOCO, Susan moved to northeast Tennessee where she stayed for ten years at a network affiliate anchoring the prime-time evening newscasts and reporting from the field covering everything from ribbon cuttings to mass murders, natural disasters, and national political figures. While in Tennessee, Susan discovered a passion for documentary work when she wrote, edited and produced a one-hour documentary about the mass-murder of a family. She covered the story over the course of a year for her newscast, but felt there was more to say about the heinous crime. That one-hour show ended up winning best documentary from the Tennessee Associated Press.
In 2000 Susan returned home to Oklahoma and began her dream job producing documentaries full-time for the state’s PBS affiliate. During her first 7 years at OETA, Susan produced content for the hour-long, issues-oriented program “Stateline” where she and the rest of the station’s documentary team won an Emmy for two years of work on a special program chronicling the construction of a dome on the Oklahoma State Capitol. Susan’s portion of the program dealt with the dome’s structure and how it was made. Alongside the photographer, Susan climbed the dizzying 8 stories to the top of the dome scaffolding to interview the workers who were putting the limestone pieces into place. Back on the ground, she was equally comfortable interviewing the Oklahoma Governor and the supervisors of the crews building the dome. When the documentary was completed, it went on to win an Emmy for Susan and the others who worked on it. In 2017, at the request of the Governor of Oklahoma, on the 100thanniversary of the capitol building dedication, the documentary “Oklahoma Rising” was broadcast again.
Susan continued to work on dozens of significant and diverse “Stateline” documentary topics, including unusual religions in Oklahoma, the decline of newspapers, the crisis at county jails, career opportunities for the mentally challenged, families dealing with autism, the status of transplants for patients with life-threatening ailments, and unsolved crimes. In each instance, Susan used her interviewing skills blended with likeability and empathy for those who shared their information with her. Her work built an ever-growing network of friends and officials who trusted her.
In 2008, Susan changed the content of her storytelling to pursue a long-time ambition of sharing stories about the arts; covering the Oklahoma arts scene for OETA. Susan gave OETA viewers a comprehensive tour of the extraordinary artwork that fills the walls of the State Capitol, took them to a ringside seat at the National Cake Decorators’ competition, let them hear what motivates someone who has happily made a career out of acting, even though Broadway is more than a thousand miles away, showed the inner workings and dedication of the musicians who make up the state’s two major University marching bands (Emmy winner), and opened everyone’s eyes about what it takes to raise farm animals destined for intense livestock competition at the Oklahoma State Fair (Emmy winner). Along the way, Susan showcased dozens of individual artists and performers. Amber Sharples, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Arts Council, says: “Susan’s efforts on “Gallery America” and other programs for the arts and more highlight her determination to give viewers compelling perspectives into rich and nuanced issues that are too often rarely given the spotlight, but are nonetheless vital for an educated, democratically-governed society.”
She has won 4 Emmy awards for her work and a Best of Show and First place award from the National Educational Telecommunications Association; a National Clarion Award from Women in Communication, along with several awards from state journalism organizations, OBA, SPJ, and the Associated Press. In December of 2016, Susan received the prestigious Governor’s Arts Award in Media.