Brad Smith joins CNN as an Anchor for Network’s FAST Channel: CNN Headlines
ATLANTA, GA – (July, 8, 2025) – Brad Smith will join CNN as an Anchor for CNN Headlines, the network’s domestic FAST channel. CNN Headlines is an original, curated news feed covering major stories across entertainment, culture, business, politics, and international, showcasing the buzziest and most impactful events of the day. With live news programs and roundups of can’t-miss moments, Headlines taps into a local, on-the-ground perspective in the way only CNN can.
Smith’s appointment is part of CNN’s wider investment in its FAST programming, complementing CNN’s existing linear, digital, mobile and podcast offerings and soon-to-launch streaming service and other standalone products. Outside of the US, CNN relaunched the previously named CNN Fast channel to CNN Headlines, increasing the timeliness of content, adding a news ticker and refreshing the brand identity. CNN is attracting new advertisers to its FAST channels and developing new commercial product innovations to maximize monetization through advertising and sponsorship directly or through FAST platform partnerships.
Smith was previously an anchor at Yahoo! Finance where he covered equity markets and interviewed chief executives of household-known businesses, cabinet officials, members of congress and economic policymakers as the host of Morning Brief.
Prior to Yahoo! Finance, Smith was an anchor for the streaming platform Cheddar where his responsibilities spanned across Cheddar Business and Cheddar News. During his tenure, he hosted the daily live Opening Bell show from the New York Stock Exchange, and regularly steered heatmap and battleground states coverage during the 2020 election. He was also a founding anchor for timely shows Search for a Cure: COVID-19 and All Hands: Race to Inclusion.
Before transitioning into news, Smith began his career at the Nasdaq Stock Market as a Global Listings Services Marketing Specialist as companies turned public and eventually expanded interests into video content strategy from the MarketSite Studio in Times Square.
Smith will be based out of Atlanta and will start his new role at CNN later this summer.
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