Cabot Rea is a former American reporter and television news anchorman. He was the evening and night co-anchorman for WCMH, the NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio.

In 1978, Rea graduated from Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio with a degree in music education. He taught music in Newark, Ohio, and was twice teacher of the year at Wilson Junior High. Also a professional singer and actor, Rea toured in a production of Camelot and was also the principal baritone at the Ohio Light Opera Company.

Rea started at WCMH in 1985 as a weekend sports and daily feature reporter for the station, and received an Emmy Award for a feature news story on Camp Reams, a corrections facility in Lancaster, Ohio.^[1] On October 14, 2015, he announced that by the end of December 2015 he was going to retire from working at NBC4 news. He was there for 30 years.^[2]

Rea briefly served as the co-anchorman on the nightly news at WWHO, the Columbus UPN affiliate. He teaches radio and television performance at Otterbein College. Until recently^[when?], Rea served as the host of the Miss Ohio Pageant since 1986.

Rea has a wife, Heather, and three children: Josh, Meredith, and Cassie.