Fred Cantú, affectionately known as "Uncle Fred," will retire at the end of March 2025, closing out a remarkable 53-year career in TV and radio.
A household name in Austin media, Cantú has been a fixture in the industry since he started in 1972 at 17 years old.
"Being in this business is all I ever wanted to do, even as a child," Cantú said. "And I got to do it for 53 years, my entire working career."
Spending 45 of those years in the Austin market, Cantú joined CBS Austin KEYE in 2002 after previous stints at KTBC 7 and KVUE 24. Over the years, he has worn many hats—news anchor, Telemundo anchor, reporter, “The Gadget Guy,” and even the DIY reporter for We Are Austin. His coverage has spanned major local events, from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 to the Blanco River floods in 2015 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cantú's broadcasting journey began at 1600 KBOR Brownsville, where he started as a DJ and also gained experience doing news and color commentary for high school football. In 1980, while studying electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, he took a part-time weekend anchor job at KNOW/KCSW (now KFIT Sun Radio) and KBPA Bob FM.
His career continued to evolve in the 1980s. In 1981, he followed his KNOW news director to KLBJ-AM NewsTalk 590. The following year, he shifted into full-time programming, launching KTXZ 1560 with formats like Music of Your Life, All Star Rock & Roll, and Tejano Hits. In 1988, while completing his journalism degree, he worked part-time at KVET-AM The Country Giant.
Cantú made his Austin TV debut in 1990 at Channel 7 (now FOX 7 KTBC) after spending much of the '80s in radio. He started as KTBC 7’s weekend anchor before moving on to KVUE 24, where he became a top-rated morning anchor from 1995 to 2001. In 2002, he joined CBS Austin, anchoring and reporting for the station, including co-anchoring the 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts for sister station Telemundo 42.2.
Over the years, Cantú has received numerous accolades, including five-time Austin Chronicle Best TV Anchor honors and a Texas Associated Press award. In 2011, he was nominated for the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
Perhaps one of the most unique footnotes in his career is his Grammy nomination.
"Around 1984 I was at KTXZ programming All Star Rock & Roll, a mix of oldies and local music," Cantú told mikemcguff.com in 2022. "I was approached by someone from a local guitar band called Trash, Twang & Thunder. They needed a riot sound effect for a recording. I found a sound effect in public domain and made them a dub. They decided to credit me for the riot on the album which ended up nominated for a Grammy. Since my name was on the album I was included in the nomination. 'We' didn’t win."
