Joleen Chaney first joined the KFOR News 4 team in June 2007. That was the beginning of her television career after she walked in off the street one day and made herself an intern. Within a week she was hired behind the scenes as a weekend writer and assignment editor. Three months later, Joleen landed her first on-air job as a morning anchor at KAUZ-TV in Wichita Falls, TX during her senior year of college at Cameron University where she was involved in the Honor’s Program. Within a year, she was back at KFOR-TV anchoring and reporting the news. From June 2014 to June 2016 she worked at another local television station but returned home to her KFOR family as the weekday 4pm anchor and was later promoted to main evening anchor following the retirement of legendary Oklahoma journalist Linda Cavanaugh.
Joleen is a sixth generation Oklahoman, born in Fairview and raised in Rush Springs – and, no, Joleen wasn’t the watermelon queen! Joleen is a member of the Choctaw Tribe of Oklahoma, and her family still has ties to the tribal land where they once lived and farmed.
Growing up, her mother would often tell her stories that always began with “Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Joleen.” Now, Joleen is a professional storyteller, telling the stories of Oklahomans each day on KFOR News 4.
Joleen has been honored by the Associated Press for “Best Reporter Portfolio” and by the Society of Professional Journalists for criminal justice reporting, diversity reporting, and feature reporting. In 2010 Joleen was nominated for a Heartland Emmy for breaking news tornado coverage. Joleen has won multiple Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters awards. She was also part of KFOR-TV’s multiple Emmy award winning team for coverage of the May 2013 Moore tornado.
When Joleen is not reporting the news you can catch her running or hiking. A lifelong athlete, Joleen participates in and emcees races across the state as well as volunteers her time emceeing events benefitting Oklahoma nonprofits. In 2011 Joleen completed a half ironman triathlon, helping raise several thousand dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Oklahoma. She has run and cycled in events to benefit the Children’s Miracle Network and the American Diabetes Association. Joleen ran her first full marathon in April 2012, completing the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon and has run countless half marathons across Oklahoma. Joleen was also a member of ionOklahoma Magazine’s “30 under 30 NextGen” inaugural class to honor Oklahomans under the age of 30 for outstanding career achievement. She is currently an honorary board member of the Children’s Hospital and puts together a biweekly segment called “A Heart for Kids” highlighting Oklahoma children who undergo live saving surgery made possible by an endowed program funded by The Children’s Hospital Foundation fundraising. Joleen travels the state speaking to women’s groups and to high school students as a baccalaureate and a graduation speaker.
