Born in Los Angeles, Romero graduated from San José State University with a degree in Broadcasting and Business and a minor in Theatre Arts. He was a flight attendant for Pan American Airlines in the 1970s and a professional performer until he took a job at KNTV-TV in San Jose, California in 1977. His first on-camera job came in 1982 as the host of PM Magazine at KUTV in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1985, he became an investigative reporter at KPNX-TV in Phoenix, Arizona, from which he moved on to KABC. Romero is married and has three children.

Romero anchors regular segments on the 5 pm and 11 pm newscasts, and his pieces are rebroadcast on the 11 am newscast. Romero's consumer work often focuses on technology and the Internet, explaining concepts to "newbies" in simple language.

Romero became a FARK cliché in October 2005 after his article effusing about the phenomenon of blogging was posted to KABC's site, several years after blogs became widely popular. Romero's name is usually attached to an article where he (or another author) reports on a fad or cultural phenomenon that has long since passed the point of being newsworthy, or is very obvious.

On December 7, 2009, Drew Curtis discovered Romero's Facebook fan page, which led Ric to ask the Farkers that joined his new Facebook page to donate to the Spark of Love Toy Drive, which subsequently resulted in 582 online donations totaling $13,659.20 (as of December 16, 2009). Romero thanked the Fark community on the news for their donations, and recognized his status as a Farkism, also reporting the "breaking news" that, "Water is Wet."