Ric Romero was the consumer reporter for KABC, a

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

station in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

city of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. He retired on November 25, 2015. Romero was born in

and grew up in the San Fernando Valley, Romero graduated from

San José State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

with a degree in Broadcasting and Business and a minor in Theatre Arts. During the 1970s, he was one of the first male flight attendants for

Pan American Airlines Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

, describing the travel and the job as "an experience we'll never forget." Later, he was a professional performer until he accepted a position at KNTV-TV in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

in 1977. His first on-camera job came in 1982 as the host of ''PM Magazine'' at

KUTV KUTV (channel 2) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside independent station KJZZ-TV (channel 14) and St. George–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate K ...

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. In 1985, he became an investigative reporter at KPNX-TV in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

, from which he moved on to KABC. Romero anchored regular segments on the 5 pm and 11 pm newscasts, and his pieces were rebroadcast on the 11 am newscast. Romero's consumer work often focused on technology and the Internet, explaining concepts to "

newbies Newbie, newb, noob, noobie, n00b or nub is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in a profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet ...

" in simple language.

Internet notoriety

Romero became a FARK cliché in October 2005 after his article effusing about the phenomenon of

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

ging was posted to KABC's site, several years after blogs became widely popular.Romero, Ric.
Your Opinions Online
" ''

KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network. ...

.'' October 18, 2006. Retrieved on February 14, 2007. Romero's name is usually attached to an article where he (or another author) reports on a fad or cultural phenomenon that has long since passed the point of being newsworthy, or is very obvious. On December 7, 2009,

Drew Curtis Drew Curtis (born February 7, 1973) is the founder and an administrator of Fark, an Internet news aggregator. He is also the author of '' It's Not News, It's FARK: How Mass Media Tries to Pass off Crap as News'' in May 2007. He is a guest on WOC ...

discovered Romero's

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

fan page, which led Ric to ask the Farkers who joined his new Facebook page to donate to the ''Spark of Love Toy Drive'', which subsequently resulted in 582 online donations totaling $13,659.20 (as of December 16, 2009). Romero thanked the Fark community on the news for their donations, and recognized his status as a Farkism, also reporting the "breaking news" that "Water is Wet."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romero, Ric San Jose State University alumni Television anchors from Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people) Journalists from California Radio personalities from Los Angeles People from the San Fernando Valley Radio personalities from Arizona People from Salt Lake City American investigative journalists Living people American male journalists