English-Speaking News Director Who Built SF's Chinese-Language Station Retiring

After more than 36 years in the gig—and speaking neither Mandarin nor Cantonese—KTSF news and public director Rose Shirinian is retiring from her lengthy career heading the San Francisco-area’s Chinese-language TV station.

The former dental hygienist, who started as an English-speaking part-timer in 1976, is credited with making the Lincoln Broadcasting-owned independent a leader in producing local news in Chinese.

Shirinian has overseen the growth of the station’s local Chinese-language news offerings, which started in 1989 with a 9 p.m. newscast in Cantonese and has continued to grow through October, when KTSF launched a morning show.  

The station airs local news at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. in addition to its 6 a.m. morning show, as well as locally produced public affairs programming in Cantonese and Mandarin.

Director of content development Geoff Roth will take over as news director on Jan. 2.