the Empire State Building, were the only major New York City stations whose over-the-air signals were not disrupted. For a time until the other English stations could re-establish emergency transmission bases at Empire or the Armstrong Tower, WXTV's anchors reported in both languages for viewers without pay access to local English stations; the station had also done so when the towers were bombed in 1993. Newscasts Local news began with the station, originally in the form of half-hour newscasts at 7 and 11 p.m. (later changed to 6 and 11). From 1981 to 1985, Enrique Gratas was WXTV's news director. In 1999, an hour-long morning newscast was added to the station's evening news broadcasts, the first Spanish-language morning news program in the New York market. In addition to the newscasts, the station produces news updates for Altice USA's News 12 Networks on weekdays. Since the late 1990s, as the Hispanic population in New York has grown, WXTV's ratings have grown to become competitive with the market's English-language stations. WXTV won the July 2008 sweeps period and also became the first Spanish-language television station to win all three evening slots (local newscasts at 6 and 11 and the national news at 6:30 p.m.). WXTV's 6 p.m. newscast was also #1 among the 25–54 demographic, followed by WABC-TV, WCBS-TV, WNJU, WNYW and WNBC. WXTV's 6 p.m. newscast ended the 2011 calendar year as the number-one newscast in that timeslot in the entire United States in any language among adults 18–49. In 2020, the late newscast, Solo a las Once (Only at 11), was retooled with an in-depth format. Notable current on-air staff Adriana Vargas – weeknight anchor Rafael Bello – weekday meteorologist and entertainment anchor Notable former on-air staff María Celeste Arrarás Daisy Fuentes Denisse Oller Rafael Pineda (retired in 2013) Technical information Subchannels The station's digital signal is multiplexed: Analog-to-digital conversion WXTV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 41, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 40. In the incentive auction, WXTV's spectrum was sold for $198,965,211, and the station's license was consolidated onto one channel with co-owned WFUT. Notes References External links Univision network affiliates Bounce TV affiliates Twist (TV network) affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1968 1968 establishments in New Jersey XTV-DT XTV-DT XTV-DT