Five Decades Together: Familiar Faces, Shared Memories, and KTSF’s 50th Anniversary Celebration

Some familiar faces have a way of bringing back years of memories the moment you see them again.

On September 12, 2026, KTSF celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special banquet in Daly City, bringing together about 420 guests for an evening filled with reunions, laughter, and reflection. Longtime viewers, community leaders, business partners, former employees, and familiar personalities from KTSF’s past gathered at Koi Palace to celebrate a milestone that represents far more than the history of a television station.

For many people in the San Francisco Bay Area, KTSF has been part of everyday life for decades. It has been there during dinner, during breaking news, during community celebrations, and during moments when viewers simply wanted to hear familiar voices speaking in a familiar language.

That sense of connection was especially strong at the 50th anniversary banquet, where former anchors including Mei-Ling Sze, Kuo-Shu Liang, Hui-Chuan Hsu, Chieh Chen, and Pei-Chun Liao returned to celebrate with longtime colleagues and viewers.

Seeing those familiar faces together again brought back memories not only of television, but of an era.

Fifty Years of KTSF Means Fifty Years of Shared Bay Area Memories

A 50th anniversary is easy to describe as a milestone. But for a station like KTSF, fifty years also represents countless evenings spent with Bay Area families, generations of viewers, and decades of change within the communities it serves.

Since its early years, KTSF has grown alongside the Bay Area’s Asian American communities. The region has changed dramatically over the decades, and so has the way people consume news and entertainment. Viewers who once waited for a scheduled television broadcast can now watch content on phones, websites, and digital platforms whenever and wherever they choose.

Yet for many longtime viewers, the memories remain rooted in simple routines: turning on the television at the end of the day, seeing a familiar anchor at the desk, and hearing news delivered in a language that felt close to home.

That history made the anniversary cake-cutting especially meaningful. KTSF owner Lincoln Howell, his daughter Alisha Howell, and members of the board gathered onstage to celebrate the station’s five decades on the air. It was a symbolic moment, but also a deeply personal one for many in the room.

The evening was not simply about how long KTSF has existed. It was about how many lives, careers, families, and community stories have crossed paths with the station over those fifty years.

The Warmest Surprise Was Seeing Familiar Faces Return

One of the most memorable parts of the evening came when several former KTSF anchors returned to what many affectionately described as coming “home.”

Mei-Ling Sze, Kuo-Shu Liang, Hui-Chuan Hsu, Chieh Chen, and Pei-Chun Liao were among the former on-air personalities who reunited with colleagues and viewers. For longtime KTSF audiences, seeing them again felt a little like opening an old family photo album.

Some of these familiar faces had not appeared together on screen for years. But once they walked onstage, the memories came back quickly.

The former anchors took photos with guests, joined interactive games, answered questions, and shared stories from their time at KTSF. The room was lively, but beneath the laughter was something more meaningful: the feeling of reconnecting with people who had once been part of everyday life.

For viewers, anchors are often remembered not only for the stories they reported, but for the consistency of their presence. They were there night after night, year after year, becoming familiar faces in households throughout the Bay Area.

For former colleagues, the reunion carried a different kind of emotion. Behind every newscast were reporters, producers, camera operators, editors, interns, and staff members working together under constant deadlines. Years later, job titles mattered less than the memories they shared.

The anniversary gave many of them a rare opportunity to see one another again.

Chieh Chen and Pei-Chun Liao Share a Moving Reunion

One of the evening’s most touching moments came when former Mandarin news anchors Chieh Chen and Pei-Chun Liao appeared together again after many years.

For viewers who remembered seeing the two of them on KTSF, the reunion felt instantly familiar. But for the former colleagues themselves, the emotions were even stronger.

Liao became visibly emotional when she saw members of the former newsroom team. She said she had not expected to feel so overwhelmed before arriving, but seeing old colleagues again brought back years of memories all at once.

There were hugs, tears, and plenty of laughter.

Chen, meanwhile, shared how much his life has changed since his days behind the anchor desk. He joked that while he once spent his evenings accompanying Bay Area viewers through the nightly news, these days he spends much more of his time with his daughter and granddaughter.

He also had some especially good news to share: after smoking for 40 years, he had finally quit.

The announcement was met with an enthusiastic “Good job!” from the crowd, followed by applause and laughter.

It was a small, personal story, but one that made the reunion feel even more genuine. These were not simply former television personalities returning for an anniversary appearance. They were old friends reconnecting and sharing where life had taken them.

50th Anniversary | From Television’s Golden Era to a Digital Future

Former KTSF General Manager Mike Sherman was also among those who returned for the celebration.

Having helped guide KTSF through an earlier era of television, Sherman described how meaningful it was to see the station reach its 50th anniversary.

For those who worked in broadcasting during television’s golden years, today’s media landscape looks very different. Audiences are no longer limited to a single television screen or a fixed broadcast schedule.

KTSF has evolved along with those changes.

During the banquet, Lincoln Howell reflected on how digital platforms have expanded KTSF’s reach far beyond its traditional Bay Area television audience. Today, KTSF content can reach viewers across California, throughout the United States, and into Canada.

That expansion marks an important new chapter for the station. But the evening also made clear that growth is not only about technology or geography.

What has always made KTSF meaningful is the connection between the people creating the stories and the communities watching them.

Technology changes. Platforms change. But that sense of connection remains at the heart of the station’s identity.

An Evening Shared With the Community

The 2026 celebration marked the fifth consecutive year KTSF has hosted an anniversary banquet, and this year’s gathering was the largest yet.

Around 420 guests attended, including longtime viewers, community organizations, business partners, former staff members, and other guests who have been part of KTSF’s journey over the years.

For the first time, elected officials also attended to present commendations recognizing the station’s long service to the community.

Taiwan Tourism Administration’s San Francisco office served as the title sponsor of the event, joined by China Airlines, EVA Air, and STARLUX Airlines. Together, they highlighted new Taiwan travel promotions, including the return of the “Taiwan the Lucky Land” campaign for eligible returning travelers.

The evening ended on a particularly cheerful note with the grand prize drawing.

Two round-trip China Airlines tickets from San Francisco to Taipei were awarded to one very lucky guest, prompting cheers throughout the ballroom and bringing the anniversary celebration to a lighthearted close.

Some Forms of Companionship Become Part of Our Collective Memory

After a reunion like this, everyone eventually returns to daily life.

Former anchors move on to new chapters. Old colleagues say goodbye again. Guests take their photos home, and the ballroom grows quiet.

But the memories remain.

For KTSF, fifty years represents the history of a television station. For many Bay Area viewers, however, it is also part of their own personal history.

People remember who delivered the evening news. They remember watching television with their parents. They remember hearing familiar voices at a time when Asian-language media in the United States was much more limited than it is today.

Those memories may seem small when they happen. Years later, they become part of something much larger.

That is what made KTSF’s 50th anniversary banquet so meaningful. It was not simply a celebration of the number 50. It was a chance to recognize that over the decades, viewers, journalists, employees, families, and community members had all shared part of the same journey.

From 1976 to 2026, the Bay Area has changed tremendously, and so has the media world around it. The next fifty years will undoubtedly bring even more change.

But some things remain worth holding on to: familiar voices, meaningful stories, trusted relationships, and the feeling of being connected to a community.

For one evening, many of those memories came together again in the same room.

And in many ways, that was the most fitting way to celebrate fifty years of KTSF.