Tom Merritt
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Merritt (born June 28, 1970 in Greenville, Illinois) is an Executive Editor for CNET and the developer and co-host of the daily podcast Buzz Out Loud along with Jason Howell and a rotating panel. He is also the author of CNET's "The Real Deal", a regular column & podcast (co-hosted with Rafe Needleman) dealing with consumer technology. He also co-hosted the tech support call-in program CNET Live with fellow editor Brian Cooley, and is also the host of CNET Top 5.
Born in Greenville, Illinois, Merritt's father worked on the Coffee-Mate project as a food scientist. Merritt received a BS in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and pursued graduate work in communications at the University of Texas at Austin.