KMPH news anchor who was a staple on Fresno TV in the 1980s and ’90s has died

For years, those in the news media knew Janet Stoll-Lee as the public information officer for the Clovis Police Department.

It was a position well suited. After all, she came to the job following a decades-long stint in news — on television and later radio. She served as both an on-air anchor and reporter and as a managing editor at KMPH Channel 26.

Stoll-Lee died Sept. 12 at the age of 65, according to the station. She had been living with dementia for the past several years.

Stoll-Lee joined KMPH in 1980 after a stint in radio news stations in Hanford and Tulare. The Fresno State graduate became the name and face of KMPH’s newscast during her run, which lasted through the 1990s.

It was her photo (alongside co anchor John Soderman) that ran in ads for “the Valley’s only primetime newscast.”

Among class of Fresno newscasters

She was in a class of well-known female newscasters at the time that included Stephanie Booroojian, Liz Harrison, Nancy Osborne and Juanita Stevenson.

Stoll-Lee was the principal anchor of News Radio KMPH (107.5 FM) in the late 1990s, during the late-afternoon weekday commute news block. When she left the job to join the Clovis Police Department in 2001, she told The Bee, “I just thought it was time for a career change.

“I have been toying with this idea for a couple of years and this seemed like a good fit for both sides.”

Stoll-Lee is being remembered online by her viewers (many of whom grew up watching her newscasts) and colleagues. Jim Boren, executive director of the Institute for Media and Public Trust at Fresno State wrote that Stoll-Lee was an “an outstanding journalist and a trusted friend.”

“I was blessed to cross paths with her in the news business.”