Ric Romero

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Publicity shot of Ric Romero from ABC 7 website

Ric Romero is the consumer reporter for KABC, a Los Angeles television station.

Born in Los Angeles, Romero graduated from San José State University with a degree in Broadcasting and Business and a minor in Theatre Arts. He was a flight attendant for Pan American Airlines in the 1970s and a professional performer until he took a job at KNTV-TV in San Jose, California in 1977. His first on-camera job came in 1982 as the host of PM Magazine at KUTV in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1985, he became an investigative reporter at KPNX-TV in Phoenix, Arizona, from which he moved on to KABC. Romero is married and has three children.

Romero anchors regular segments on the 5 pm and 11 pm newscasts, and his pieces are rebroadcast on the 11 am newscast. Romero's consumer work often focuses on technology and the Internet, explaining concepts to "newbies" in simple language.

[edit] Internet fame

Romero became a FARK cliché in October 2005 after his article effusing about the phenomenon of blogging was posted to KABC's site, several years after blogs became widely popular. (It is assumed the article was a transcription of an actual on-camera report presented on KABC.) When the article was linked from Fark.com, the vacuity of the article combined with the friendly headshot photograph resulted in a new cliché.

In current usage on Fark, Romero's headshot along with a Captain Obvious-type message relating to the thread topic is added to various threads on Fark, often tagged with "More at 11!" to connote the flavor of Eyewitness News and similar local TV news formats. Some on Fark claim that Romero's usage doesn't necessarily indicate an "obvious" topic, but rather one that had entered the mainstream long before Romero came across it.