Doug Meehan is the weekday morning co-anchor of EyeOpener on WCVB Channel 5 in Boston. He’s a Cape Cod native who anchored in Rhode Island, Texas, Florida and Arizona before coming home to New England TV in 2015. If you landed here searching for his age, wife or net worth, you’ll find straight answers below, including a few places where the honest answer is “nobody has confirmed that.” A lot of what’s published about him online contradicts itself, so this guide sticks to what can be traced to a real source.
Quick Answer
- Who he is: Emmy-winning journalist and co-anchor of WCVB’s weekday EyeOpener newscast in Boston
- Age: Roughly 62, estimated from published ages. His birth year looks like 1963-64, not the 1965 many sites print (explained below)
- Hometown: West Yarmouth, Cape Cod
- Education: Westfield State University (BA, mass communications/broadcasting)
- Wife and children: Not publicly confirmed. The “Jay Leno” claim you may have seen is false
- Salary and net worth: No verified figures exist. Published estimates are guesses and they disagree with each other
- Where he is now: Still on the WCVB morning desk, based on the latest sources found
Salary, net worth and age figures on this page are estimates unless marked as confirmed.
Table of Contents
- Who is Doug Meehan?
- How old is Doug Meehan?
- Early life and education
- Career timeline
- Doug Meehan at WCVB
- Health journey and advocacy
- Is Doug Meehan married? Family and children
- Doug Meehan’s salary and net worth
- Personal life and life outside the newsroom
- Key facts
- FAQs
- Conclusion
Who is Doug Meehan?
Meehan co-anchors the weekday EyeOpener, WCVB’s flagship morning newscast, which airs on the Boston ABC affiliate (NewsCenter 5). He’s been with the station since December 2015. Press materials describe him as an Emmy Award-winning journalist, though they don’t list how many awards or in which years.
He describes himself in his own social bios the way a lot of Boston viewers think of him: morning anchor, Cape Cod native, former Nantucket Island ferry boat captain, cancer survivor. The ferry job is an unusual detail for a news anchor, and it’s one of the few personal facts he’s chosen to put front and center himself.
How old is Doug Meehan?
Most celebrity-bio sites say Doug Meehan was born on May 29, 1965, which would make him 61 in 2026. That number doesn’t survive a basic check, and here’s why.
The birthday conflict
- In October 2024, the Boston Globe described him as 60.
- In a Dana-Farber/Jimmy Fund patient story published around the fall of 2023, he’s described as 59.
A person born in May 1965 would have been 58 in late summer 2023 and 59 in October 2024. Both published ages are a year higher than that. They fit a birth year of 1963 or 1964 instead.
Best estimate
Working from those two published ages, he was most likely born between late 1963 and 1964, which puts him at about 62 in October 2026. The exact day isn’t confirmed anywhere I could find. I couldn’t find a birthdate in any news or station source I checked, and the May 29 date appears only on aggregator sites. Treat “about 62” as the safe answer.
Early life and education
Growing up on Cape Cod
Meehan grew up in West Yarmouth, on the Cape’s south shore. He’s said he knew what he wanted to do early: when his mother asked at age 12 what he’d be when he grew up, he told her he wanted to be on TV.
High school and college
He graduated from Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School and then went to Westfield State University in western Massachusetts. A WCVB hiring announcement says he earned a Bachelor of Arts in mass communications with concentrated study in broadcasting. Other bios call it a communication degree.
You may see claims online that he has a Manhattan College degree and an MBA. Nothing credible supports that, and the dates quoted for it don’t fit his age.
First job
His professional career began at Cape 11 News in South Yarmouth, where he worked as an anchor and reporter. Starting on home turf helped. He’d later tell Phoenix interviewers that early mornings, including a 2 a.m. wake-up, were simply part of the job.
Career timeline
Meehan’s path reads like a tour of American local news. The table below lists each stop that a reliable source confirms. Years for the early stops aren’t published, and sources disagree on the exact order of his Boston jobs (see the note below the table).
| Stop | Role | What’s confirmed |
|---|---|---|
| Cape 11 News (South Yarmouth, MA) | Anchor/reporter | First professional job |
| New England Cable News (NECN) | Reporter | Before Providence |
| WPRI (Providence, RI) | News, weather and sports anchor | Before leaving New England the first time |
| KEYE (Austin), WTSP (Tampa), KTVT and WFAA (Dallas) | Anchor/host | Together about six years per WCVB’s 2015 announcement; at WFAA he hosted Good Morning Texas |
| WHDH (Boston) | Reporter, relief anchor | Boston return |
| WFXT (Boston) | Reporter and anchor | More than six and a half years; the market’s first full-time helicopter reporter |
| WTKK 96.9 FM (Boston) | Radio host | The Doug Meehan Show, about two years; also a Wall Street Journal Radio Network contributor |
| KPNX / 12 News (Phoenix) | Anchor | Nearly three years |
| WCVB (Boston) | Weekend, then weekday anchor | December 2015 to present |
A note on order: WCVB’s 2015 announcement places WHDH before the radio job, while a later speaker bio places WFXT directly before it. Both can be true, but nobody has published a clean year-by-year list, so this page doesn’t invent one.
The helicopter years
The WFXT job is the one Boston viewers remember. Meehan was the market’s first full-time helicopter reporter, covering traffic and breaking news from the air. The era also produced two 2006 honors: Boston Magazine named him one of its “Fabulous 40,” and he ran the 110th Boston Marathon that same year.
Radio and Phoenix
After WFXT, he moved to talk radio with his own show on WTKK and contributed to the Wall Street Journal Radio Network from New York. Then came Phoenix. He co-anchored 12 News Today and later hosted a station program called EVB Live. In late 2015 he wrote an open letter to Phoenix viewers announcing his return to Boston, calling it an unusually rare professional opportunity and joking that he’d have to find his cold-weather gear again.
Doug Meehan at WCVB
The 2015 hire
WCVB announced in November 2015 that Meehan would join as a weekend morning anchor and general assignment reporter, starting December 19. He was paired with Antoinette Antonio on the Saturday and Sunday morning newscasts. The station’s general manager, Bill Fine, said Meehan’s local roots would be assets and that he expected viewers to be glad to see him back on Boston TV.
The move to weekdays
Starting January 1, 2019, WCVB moved Meehan to the weekday EyeOpener as its third anchor, part of a shake-up that also launched a new 4:30 p.m. newscast. Reporter Jennifer Eagan took over his weekend seat. He’s been on the weekday desk since.
Beyond the anchor chair
Meehan also fronts Made in Massachusetts, a video series that visits companies making new and classic products around the state. The listings I found don’t say which outlet produces it, so this page doesn’t credit one. He serves as an emcee for community events, including the 18th annual Cape Cod Quahog Day in Falmouth on June 20, 2026, a free event that marks the start of summer. The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce announced him as the 2026 emcee in a May 2026 press release and called him a native Cape Codder. His Instagram bio (@doug.meehan) still lists him as WCVB’s morning anchor, and posts on his Threads account from Boston Harbor dated July 2026 (unverified) show him still reporting for the station.
Health journey and advocacy
Meehan has been unusually open about his health, and it’s become part of his public work. Here’s the verified timeline.
Diagnosis and surgery
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2020, in the early months of COVID. He told Dana-Farber he went on active surveillance, which means monitoring his PSA number and Gleason score rather than treating right away. After a few years he chose surgery, and says he made that call with his care team and with the support of a close friend who stayed with him through treatment. The Jimmy Fund page says he shared his story five months after surgery on August 30, 2023, which places the surgery around spring 2023. When doctors removed the prostate, some cancer remained, and his team treated it. Dana-Farber says his most recent PSA test at the time showed no signs of cancer.
The Jimmy Fund telethon
He told his story on the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon. Dana-Farber says patient stories like his helped raise more than $4 million toward its research mission. His message to men is simple: don’t brush aside prostate issues.
October 2024 hospital scare
On October 10, 2024, hours after emceeing a Joe Andruzzi Foundation gala at Gillette Stadium, he called an ambulance for a bowel blockage. He later said a tube ran through his nose into his stomach for about 30 hours. He posted about it in a TikTok video from the hospital, opening with “Life moves pretty fast,” and WCVB confirmed he’d be back on air the following Wednesday.
Is Doug Meehan married? Family and children
What’s confirmed
Nothing. Meehan hasn’t publicly confirmed a spouse, and no reliable news source names one. Some bio sites assert he’s married but don’t name a source, and other sites flatly say his marital status isn’t public. When sources contradict each other and none cites a statement from Meehan himself, the accurate answer is “unknown.”
The nearest thing to a personal clue is the Dana-Farber story, which credits a “dear friend” for standing by him through treatment. That’s a friend, not a wife or partner, and the story doesn’t say more.
The Jay Leno myth
Several low-quality sites claim Meehan is married to Jay Leno. That’s false. It’s a content-farm error that got copied from page to page. Jay Leno’s wife is Mavis Leno, and she has no connection to this story.
Children, parents and siblings
No credible public source mentions children, parents or siblings by name. If you see names attached to them, check where the claim comes from.
Doug Meehan’s salary and net worth
What’s published
WCVB’s owner doesn’t disclose anchor pay and Meehan hasn’t shared his finances, so every figure online is an outside guess. Here’s the range:
| Estimate type | Published guess | How much to trust it |
|---|---|---|
| Salary | About $85,000 to $150,000 per year | Low. Cited by a 2026 bio site with no method |
| Salary (older site) | About $52,200 | Low. Dated and unsourced |
| Net worth (2026 sites) | $1 million, $2 million, or $1 to $2 million | Low. Different sites, different numbers |
| Net worth (older sites) | $10,000 to $100,000, or about $2.58 million | Very low. Contradict each other |
Why you shouldn’t rely on them
The spread, from five figures to over $2.5 million, tells you the sites are copying and remixing each other. A career of more than three decades across television and radio, with a long stretch in a top-10 market, suggests an income in line with senior local anchors, but that’s a general observation about the industry, not a fact about Meehan. If a number matters to you, treat it as unverified.
Income sources
His known income comes from his WCVB anchor job. Earlier radio hosting and speaking or emcee appearances may have contributed, but nobody has published what he earns from any of them.
Personal life and life outside the newsroom
Meehan keeps his private life private. What’s public is his work, his Cape Cod roots and his health advocacy, and that’s what the sections above and below cover.
Cape Cod roots
Meehan keeps his hometown close. He’s emceed Cape events, calls himself a Cape Cod native in every public bio, and spent time as a ferry boat captain on the Nantucket route, a job he still lists proudly. In a Phoenix-era interview he said he liked spending free time with friends, wine and a good laugh.
Does Doug Meehan have a Wikipedia page?
I couldn’t find one in my searches. The most complete public profiles are his WCVB staff page and his Muck Rack author profile, which lists his WCVB stories. His own social bios are the best source for how he describes himself.
Social media
His Instagram is @doug.meehan, which showed around 27,000 followers when I checked (counts change daily). He’s also on Threads under the same handle. He uses the accounts for station promotion, charity events and health awareness rather than family photos.
Key Facts
- Full name: Doug Meehan
- Job: Weekday co-anchor, EyeOpener, WCVB-TV (Boston)
- At WCVB since: December 2015
- Age: Roughly 62 (estimate; birth year likely 1963-64, exact date unconfirmed)
- Hometown: West Yarmouth, Cape Cod, MA
- Education: Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School; Westfield State University
- Honors: Emmy-winning journalist; Boston Magazine “Fabulous 40” (2006)
- Health: Prostate cancer survivor (diagnosed March 2020)
- Wife and children: Not publicly confirmed
- Salary and net worth: Unverified estimates only
- Instagram/Threads: @doug.meehan
FAQs
Who is Doug Meehan?
He’s a Boston TV journalist who co-anchors WCVB Channel 5’s weekday morning newscast, EyeOpener.
How old is Doug Meehan?
About 62. Many sites say he was born May 29, 1965, but ages published by the Boston Globe and Dana-Farber point to a birth year closer to 1964.
Is Doug Meehan married?
He hasn’t publicly confirmed it, and no reliable source names a spouse. Claims that he’s married to Jay Leno are wrong.
Does Doug Meehan have children?
There’s no credible public information about children.
What is Doug Meehan’s salary?
Not publicly verified. Online guesses run from about $52,000 to $150,000.
What is Doug Meehan’s net worth in 2026?
No verified figure exists. Recent sites guess $1 to $2 million, and older ones give very different numbers.
Where did Doug Meehan go to college?
Westfield State University in Massachusetts, where he studied mass communications with a focus on broadcasting.
Does Doug Meehan have a Wikipedia page?
Not that I could find. WCVB’s staff page and his Muck Rack profile are the best public profiles.
Where is Doug Meehan now?
He’s still a WCVB morning anchor in Boston, based on the latest sources found.
Did Doug Meehan have cancer?
Yes. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2020, had surgery in 2023, and has spoken publicly to encourage men to get checked.
What happened to Doug Meehan in 2024?
He was hospitalized in October 2024 for a bowel blockage after hosting a charity gala and returned to work within days.
Conclusion
The documented side of Doug Meehan’s story is strong: a Cape Cod kid with a broadcasting degree who built a career across five states, flew over Boston as its first full-time helicopter reporter, and now wakes up New England on WCVB. His openness about cancer has made him a visible voice for men’s health. The undocumented side is much thinner. His exact age, his marital status, his income and his net worth haven’t been confirmed by him or by WCVB, so any figure you read, including the ones on this page, should be treated as approximate until he says otherwise.
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Shahzad is the founder and lead writer at WorthRada. He writes about celebrity net worth, biographies, careers, income, and success stories, with a focus on providing clear, well-researched, and reliable information.
