As September began, it became known that Mike Carr would be transferring from Fresno to run the ABC Owned Stations sibling serving Houston.
Now, Carr’s successor at KFSN “ABC30” has been revealed.
Rising from News Director to President/GM at the station serving the Central Valley of California is Martin Ortiz.
He’s been KFSN’s ND since 2020, and is an individual ABC Owned Television Stations President Chad Matthews says “has been invaluable in helping to grow ABC30’s viewership across dayparts and platforms. He has a passion and commitment to storytelling, a keen sense of how to develop and grow opportunities for our business, and a deep understanding of Central California that I know are going to be invaluable in leading the station.”
Ortiz is a native of the San Joaquin Valley and was raised on ABC30’s Action News. He started his career at KFSN. He says, “It has been a privilege to work alongside some of the most dedicated storytellers in Central California and to put my passion for local news to work in the community I’m proud to call home. ABC30 has an enduring relationship with our viewers that we never take for granted. I’m very much looking forward to building on that connection, leading this exceptional team, and growing viewership across platforms.”
During his tenure at KFSN, Ortiz was instrumental in the expansion of multiple newscasts on several platforms, including new 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. shows. Ortiz also worked with station department heads to help launch the ABC30 Central California 24/7 stream, the only local 24/7 streaming platform in the Fresno DMA, as Nexstar Media Group has opted not to offer live streaming of its over-the-air news programming.
Before joining the Fresno team, Ortiz served as an executive producer at ABC Owned Television Stations’ KGO-7 in San Francisco, where he was in charge of morning news and oversaw the expansion of the 11 a.m. newscast to a full hour.
Martin Ortiz is a NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ). He is also the co-lead of ABC OTV Belong and an ABC News Pride BERG member.
