A journalism legacy for TV news in Fresno. Son follows path set forth by newscaster dad

Rich Rodriguez gets a bit of nerves watching his son work.

He beams, of course, like any good dad would, but that parental pride comes with a recognition of the job.

One of his children has followed him into the television news business.

“My first four weren’t that interested in journalism,” says Rodriguez, who’s been on air in Fresno for 40 years and spent time at the ABC, NBC and FOX affiliates in town.

For the past decade, he’s been a reporter and weekend anchor at KMPH.

His son, Rhett Rodriguez, was recently hired as a digital reporter and fill-in producer at KSEE 24/CBS 47.

“The older I get, the more teary-eyed I get,” says Rodriguez, remembering his son’s first in-studio, on-air segment back in October.

“I teared up.”

Rhett grew up around the news industry; watched his father anchor KSEE’s news desk for the better part of the 2000s. After interviewing for the job at KSEE, he was offered a tour of the facilities, but politely declined. He already knew where everything was.

Rhett’s first foray into news was on the Bronco Broadcast at Clovis North High School, where he dressed up for all of his segments. Not many of the other students did, but for him, “you dress up for the job you want.”

He studied at Fresno State and received his degree in broadcast journalism in June, through his studies were interrupted by the pandemic. One entire year was done completely via Zoom.

Not being on campus made it difficult to learn some of the production elements of the job, he says. But he did learn how to conduct an interview.

After graduating, Rhett applied and interviewed for a job (just one) outside of the Fresno market, but his heart wasn’t really in it.

That’s different from his father, who grew up in the small town of Exeter in Tulare County and spent the early part of his career dreaming of living in Los Angeles.

“My big deal was to go to LA,” Rodriguez says.

“Rhett really loves Fresno.”

At 23, Rhett still lives at home, and while the father and son are technically competitors, there’s plenty of shop talk around the house. The pair usually sits down once a week to go over Rhett’s segments.

Rodriguez doesn’t want to be that parent, hovering over his child, so he just offers suggestions.

“And I leave it at that.”

But Rodriguez enjoys those moments when Rhett comes home from work excited about a story that he’s completed, or even when he’s disappointed because a story didn’t turn out quite as good as it could have.

“That’s someone who cares,” Rodriguez says.

“That warms my heart, because that’s what I’ve been doing.”

Of course, Rhett watches his father’s segments. He’s looking for things he might have done differently, but also analyzing the way his father uses his voice and tone, and the way he tells the story.

“He’s very good at storytelling,” Rhett says.

Both agree they prefer to do the “people” stories, like the recent piece Rodriguez did on a Paso Robles winemaker who started sponsoring Ukrainian refugees after going to the country this summer.

Or, Rhett’s story on a father whose Halloween decorations honored his dead son.

If news coverage is a meal, these kinds of stories are “dessert,” Rodriguez says.

“And you can’t have a meal without dessert.”

They pair have yet to be in direct competition for stories.

Their daily schedules don’t line up that way, especially since KMPH has just one newscast each night and Rodriguez works Sunday nights. But Rhett’s co-workers love to let him know when they run into his dad while out on assignment.

He tends to be nonchalant in reply.

“Yeah,” he says.

“I’ll see him when I get home.”