Rafael Pineda (television journalist)

Rafael Pineda is a retired Cuban-American television news reporter and anchor for the Spanish language station WXTV, the Univision affiliate in New York City.

Born in 1938 in Cuba, he later immigrated to the United States as an adult. In the position since 1971, Pineda surpassed Bill Beutel of WABC-TV as the longest-serving anchor in New York television history.

For more than forty years, Pineda was the lead news anchor on WXTV. In 1988, he became host of the first Spanish-language local interview program in the tri-state area, Punto y Aparte until it ended a year later, in 1989. He led Noticias 41 Nueva York to first place among New York's Spanish language newscasts and was the first Spanish-speaking news anchor to interview both political figures and celebrities, such as Bill Clinton and Desi Arnaz.

Awards and recognition

On June 5, 2005, Pineda was honored by Union City, New Jersey with a star on the Walk of Fame at Union City's Celia Cruz Park.^[1]

Retirement

On October 24, 2013, after 42 years on television as a journalist, Pineda announced during the 6 P.M. newscast his plans to retire on Friday, December 20, 2013.

References