‘Action News’ station celebrates generations on air in Fresno. ABC30 at 70

ABC 30 in Fresno has been a generational force.

The news station helped define local television, producing iconic programming and personalities for what has now been seven decades. It’s celebrating that legacy with a half-hour anniversary special on Sunday. “For generations, our commitment has been to reflect the people, the progress, and the spirit of this region,” station president Martin Ortiz told The Bee.

“We are proud to be part of Fresno’s history, and even prouder to be a champion for its future.”

ABC30’s 70th Anniversary special walks viewers through the station’s beginnings in a warehouse on L Street (it’s now the Fresno Convention Center) to the inception of Action News, with its pioneering newscasters and promos.

“Actions News. When you watch, you know.” IYKYK.

The half-hour features archival footage, plus interviews with ABC30 journalists past and present.

Here are five things to know about ABC30.

The Valley’s first (VHF station)

The station officially went on-air May 10, 1956 as KFRE-TV channel 12. It wouldn’t begin actual programming until the following month, when it aired several new shows from the Columbia Broadcasting System (it being a CBS affiliate at the time). That included “Name That Tune,” “Mighty Mouse,” and others according to a story in The Fresno Bee at the time.

It wasn’t the first TV station in Fresno. That was the McClatchy-owned KMJ TV, which began airing in 1953. But it was the Valley’s first and only VHF station, putting it at odds with the other (UHF) stations at the time.

The Action News Team

In 1970, the station introduced the Valley to the idea of “action news.”

This was fast-paced TV news and a “revolution,” according to advertising in The Bee at the time.

“Channel 30’s new Action News really does move — at a staccato pace.”

Anchored by Roger Rocka, along with weatherman Chuck Carson and Gus Zernial on sports, the program “packed more news, sports and weather in one half hour than most stations produce in a full hour.”

By the late 1970s, Action News team was ready to hit its stride. In 1977, it paired then-anchor John Wallace with Nancy Osborne, a former commercial actress who became a trailblazer as one of the Fresno first female newscasters. Osborne died last month at 78.

That pairing of co-anchors became a signature and a staple at the station.

Side note: In 1977 ABC30 introduced the Valley to Accuweather, a forecasting system that was reputed to be more accurate than the National Weather Service.

Famous personalities

From the beginning, the station churned out well-known air-on personalities. A quick list might include the aforementioned Rocka (who was an anchor, but also the channel’s news director before leaving in 1978 to open the Tower District dinner theater that bares his name), but also:

Al Radka, who actually started in radio as a disc jockey/sales executive before coming to Channel 30, where he worked for 40 years. He was responsible for some popular ad campaigns (Lamoure’s Cleaners, Producers milk, Oberti olives) but also a series of programming that included the afternoon children’s show “Funtime.”

Karen Humphrey, who was sworn in as Fresno’s first female mayor in 1989. She was also the first female reporter in Fresno, according to a bio from her time as the executive director for the California Postsecondary Education Commission. She worked for Channel 30 in the 1970s before her time on the Fresno City Council.

Graciela Moreno, for a more recent example. Moreno joined ABC30’s Action News Team in 1997, which was notable in that she was the first journalist to cross over from Spanish language television. Her first job was as a producer for the Univision affiliate in Sacramento. She worked at the Fresno affiliate before joining ABC30.

A ratings leader

ABC 30 has long-billed itself as the Valley’s new leader.

Indeed, as far back as 1979, ABC’s Action News was at the top of the ratings in Fresno. A Fresno Bee story reported the station topped both the Nielsen and Arbitron ratings in all but one category that year; 11 p.m. Saturday. That was held by KMJ-TV, per a Fresno Bee report on Dec. 27 of that year.

The station had been gaining traction for years, according to the story, but “this is the first time they won so heavily.”

Those ratings reflected a staff that’s been attractive to other TV markets. When the station lost five reporters to other jobs over a series of months in 2015, Fresno Bee reporter Rick Bentley put it thusly: “The good thing about having high ratings is that ABC30 is an attractive place to work, especially for young reporters looking to work their way up the ratings ladder.”

And according to the station, that dominance continues. “The most recent ratings reflect ABC30 delivered decisive market leadership, outperforming all competing local stations combined in household audiences and winning across every major news‑driven daypart in Adults 25-54.” The station, citing the media analytics company Comscore, says it also leads in digital news, and is “the most-consumed local news source online, consistently surpassing its competitors.”

ABC owned and operated

KFSN is a bit of a rarity in today’s media landscape, in that it’s not a simple affiliate station.

While Fresno’s FOX station is owned by Sinclair, and the city’s CBS and NBC stations by Nextstar, KFSN is owned and operated (O&O in the biz) by ABC. It’s one of eight such ABC stations across the US. The rest are in larger markets like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, RaleIgh, Philadelphia and Houston.

ABC acquired the Fresno station in 1985 as part of a $3.5 billion Warren Buffett-backed deal with Capital Cities Communications (the station’s parent company at the time).