• Fred Blankenship III is an American host and reporter on the WSB TV Channel 2.
• He grew up in Los Angeles and studied Journalism at the University of San Francisco.
• He won the Edward R. Murrow Award for his contribution to the documentary “About Race”.
• Fred is part of the National Association of Black Journalists and National Press Photographers Association.
• He currently has an estimated net worth of $1 million and is active on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Known for movies
Starcrypt 1996
as Tanner
Contents
Who is Fred Blankenship?
Fred Douglas Blankenship III was born in Los Angeles, California USA, on 12 September 1974, so under the zodiac sign of Virgo, holding American nationality, and is of African-American ethnicity. He is best known for being a host and reporter on the WSB TV Channel 2.
Early life and education
Fred grew up in LA with his family but he rarely talks about them as he is the kind of person who separates his business life from his personal life. He looks up to his father Fred Douglas Blankenship Jr. who used to work with the US Postal Service as supervisor, plus union president, and a mentor – ‘My dad always believed in me, even in times when I wasn’t necessarily sure that I believed in myself… Junior believed in his son, and that still means the world to me.’
After he matriculated from a local high school, Fred enrolled at the University of San Francisco and graduated four years later with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. He is said to have loved journalism since an early age, thanks to all the news shows he would watch on the television.
Career
As soon as he got his degree, Fred began working for the KRON station based in San Francisco – during his stay there, he was part of the team which worked on the documentary about cultural and social behaviors of several ethnic groups entitled “About Race”; Fred won the Edward R. Murrow Award for his contribution to the making of the documentary.
He began working as a reporter and an anchor for San Diego’s KGTV station after he left KRON – he was reporting events related to drug trafficking, gang issues, while he also covered the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Fred subsequently worked as a meteorologist for KAKE TV station located in Wichita in Kansas, then went on to win a dream job in New York but they requested that he changed his last name ‘Blankenship’ to something else as it diddn’t sound well on the show – Fred gave it a lot of thought because the job was a dream come true. However, his father’s name was Fred Douglas Blankenship Junior, his grandfather’s name was Fred Douglas Blankenship Senior and he was Fred Douglas Blankenship III and he decided that it wasn’t worth it.
He hasn’t worked for too many network and stations during his career as his next job was for the WSB TV station in Atlanta, where he still works today – he became part of the team in 2007 and has been with them ever since. He managed to cover numerous important stories such as the water crisis in Georgia, and become one of the people who work on the Prime Time Action News projects.
During these years with WSB, Fred has won numerous awards and honors, mostly for his reporting on drug prevention and matters related to gang and mafia problems. He is also part of the National Association of Black Journalists, and National Press Photographers Association. He often helps organize events in the community with a goal of encouraging youth and help awaken the leaders in them.
Fred can currently be seen anchoring the Channel 2 Action News from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m., and at 12 p.m.
WSB TV station
WSB-TV virtual channel is yet another ABC-affiliated TV station which is licensed to Atlanta in Georgia – it has studios at the WSB TV and Radio Group building in Midtown Atlanta on the West Peachtree Street while its transmission tower can be seen on the Poncey Highland near the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. WSB is owned by the Cox Media Group which is part of the Cox Enterprises and has been the first and the only owner of WSB – Cox is also the publisher of “The Atlanta Journal-Constitution” and the owner of the WSB’s sister radio stations WSB, WSB-FM, WSBB-FM, WSRV, and WALR-FM.
The channel first aired on 29 September 1948 making it 70 years old, it goes by the slogans ‘Coverage You Can Count On’ and ‘Live. Local. Late Breaking’, while it can be watched in standard definition on Comcast Xfinity’s channel 3, Charter Spectrum’s channel 2, and in high definition on Xfinity’s channel 803 and Spectrum’s channel 702.
Personal life and marriage
Fred is a married man who prefers to keep his personal matters to himself – he has three kids with his other half Paige, named Freddy, Jaden and a daughter named Layla. He is considered to be a family man and tries his best to spend most of his free time with his family.
Fred’s most cherished memory
Fred was and still is very emotional when it comes to his father, he was there as he was growing up and always believed in him.
Fred was once competing in the baseball little league and to have your father come and watch your game was a major thing back in those days – he hit a double and ran to the second base when he saw his dad standing on his feet in his brown leather jacket. At the same moment, they announced that the winner of the little league’s lottery was his father, Fred Blankenship Junior – Fred was only nine back then and thought how he had everything he’d ever wanted in life.
He stated during his interview with the WSB on Father’s Day that if he could talk to his father about one thing today, it would be about the Lakers basketball team, as they were both huge fans – he would talk to him about love and being there for their families. ‘I carry him with me – when I’m at the gym and I can’t go one more step, Fred Junior pushes me to make that next step.’
Fred’s father passed away on 8 April 2003 after a long battle with diabetes – he was 57 years old while Fred was 28.
Appearance and net worth
Fred is currently 44 years old; he has short black hair and brown eyes but his height and weight are not known. According to authoritative sources, Fred’s current net worth is estimated to be over $1 million, and will surely rise as Fred is still very active in his career – it is said that an average salary of an anchor and a reporter in the US is around $70,000 per year.
Social media presence
Even though he is a busy person, Fred still finds time to post on his social media accounts – he launched his Twitter account in March 2011, and has so far amassed over 40,000 followers and tweeted more than 10,000 times. His Instagram account is followed by nearly 30,000, while he’s uploaded over 750 pictures – he has a photo of his father for his profile picture.
Fred has a Facebook page as well, which is followed by over 110,000 people.
Social profile links
Movies
Actor
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starcrypt | 1996 | Tanner |
Special Effects
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starcrypt | 1996 | special effects makeup |
Source: IMDb, Wikipedia
