Add The California Post on Google Beloved TV news anchor Kim Stephens is calling it quits after 23 years on the air, marking the latest major shake-up to hit Fresno’s local television news scene.
Stephens is leaving KMPH Fox 26’s “Great Day,” the morning show she helped launch in 2003 alongside longtime weatherman Kopi Sotiropulos, according to the Fresno Bee.
For more than two decades, the duo became familiar fixtures in viewers’ homes, with Sotiropulos supplying the laughs and Stephens bringing a more serious approach with years in television news — and backed by Edward R. Murrow and Emmy awards.
Sotiropulos retired in March, meaning Stephens’ exit will leave “Great Day” without either of its original anchors.
“Kopi and I are really proud of what we started,” Stephens told the Fresno Bee. “And we’re proud to have it carried on.”
Stephens announced her departure on Instagram, revealing she is stepping away from “Great Day” after landing a full-time, tenure-track position with Fresno State’s Media, Communications and Journalism Department. She has worked as an adjunct professor there since 2015.
“I don’t expect to see this new chapter as ending one career for another,” she says of the new job on social media. “I really see it as carrying the best of journalism forward. For years people have trusted me to tell their stories and now I get to help prepare young journalists to do the same ethically.”
The retirement comes as Fresno’s television news industry undergoes a broader talent shuffle.
At ABC30, Jason Oliveira is taking some time off before moving to the station’s evening newscasts, where he will replace longtime anchor Warren Armstrong following Armstrong’s planned retirement in November.
Cory James has returned to ABC30 to take over Oliveira’s spot on the “AM Live” broadcast. James previously worked at the station from 2016 to 2020 before leaving for WCBS in New York.
His return comes after ABC30 lost three other on-air personalities — Tiffany Olin, Gabe Ferris and Stephen Hicks. Sydney Berger has since taken over as sports director in Hicks’ place, according to the Fresno Bee.
KSEE24/CBS47 has also experienced a string of departures, including Ben Morris, Brian Dorman, Briana Byus and Jason Takhtadjian.
Dorman recently addressed the exodus on-air alongside Byus and Lauren Wallace after viewers repeatedly asked what was going on.
“What is going on at CBS47 Eye Witness News? Nothing, to be honest with you,” Dorman said, according to the Fresno Bee.
“This happens in a lot of newsrooms where contracts come up at the exact same time. We all started around the same time, different year … and then contracts come up and this is what happens.
“There’s going to be a whole bunch of new talented people coming in.”
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