Eric Rucker says goodbye to viewers earlier this week on Sacramento's Fox 40 station. He begins in Fresno on Memorial Day.

Fresno television station KSEE 24 formally announced Friday that one of its veteran anchors has departed and a new journalist will soon join the evening news team.

Alexan Balekian first started working with KSEE 24 as a sports reporter in 2004, leaving the station in 2009 and returning as an anchor in 2018. Balekian parted ways with the station last month, writing an open letter on GVWire.

“I want to thank Alexan for his years of service to KSEE24 on the anchor desk, and as host of Sunday Morning Matters, during which time the station earned an Emmy award for best newscast,” stated KSEE24 General Manager J.R. Jackson. “The decision to part ways was difficult, but mutual. I’m certain he will continue do great things in the community, as he’s always done.”

Balekian is now working with Community Health System, and is involved with a nonprofit he formed with friends during the pandemic called ECHO in the Valley.

On May 27, another veteran journalist, Eric Rucker, will join the KSEE 24 team as a weekday evening anchor. Rucker most recently was weekend anchor and reporter for KSEE owner Nexstar’s Sacramento station, FOX 40, where he has worked since 2011.

Rucker said goodbye to viewers of the Sacramento station earlier this week.

Prior to his tenure in Sacramento, Eric was a journalist in Milwaukee, and he began his career in Bend, Oregon. He is a native of the High Sierra region of Calaveras County.

 “I am thrilled to join the KSEE24 broadcast and digital news team in Fresno and look forward to forging deep relationships within the community. I am grateful for this opportunity, and I can’t wait to join the team that brings Local News that Matters to Central Valley viewers,” Rucker said.