Las Noticias Teleonce is the flagship news program for Puerto Rican television network TeleOnce it is currently anchored by Celimar Adames Casalduc during its day editions and by Ricardo Curras and Shirlyan Odette during its night edition.
The news program originated in 1986 and ran four editions weekdays and two on weekends until its abrupt cancellation in 2014 by Univision who decided to close the station's news department. In 2020, Univision sold TeleOnce to Liberman Media Group and the new ownership quickly reopened the station's news department and revived Las Noticias.
History
Las Noticias Teleonce (1986–2002)
News programming on WLII began in May 1986, with Ramón Enrique Torres and Jennifer Wolff as anchors of the 5:00 p.m. newscast. In 1990, a noon newscast premiered with Torres and Margarita Aponte as its anchors, followed by the 10:30 p.m. newscast with Torres. On March 11, 1991, a weekday morning news program, Tu Mañana, made its debut; the program was anchored by Carlos Ochoteco and Cyd Marie Fleming and featured segments such as panels of experts on different topics.
Over the years, many people worked on Tu Mañana and Las Noticias. Reporters such as Carmen Dominicci, Elwood Cruz, Susan Soltero, Bruni Torres, Nuria Sebazco, Rommy Segarra, Felipe Gómez (now at WAPA-TV), Ada Monzón (now at WAPA-TV), and Liza Lugo have been featured.
In 1996, a monthly investigative/tabloid newsmagazine called Las Noticias Xtra began airing, which offered reports considered to be shocking by audiences. Taboo themes in Puerto Rican society such as homosexuality were featured. Las Noticias Xtra eventually was reduced to a weekly segment seen during the 6:00 and 11:00 p.m. newscasts. During WLII's TeleOnce years, the station's slogan was "TeleOnce: 24 horas el canal de Las Noticias" (lit.'TeleOnce, the 24-hour news channel'), paralleling the 24-hour news source trend in the United States at the time.
Las Noticias Univision (2002–2014)
After the Univision integration in 2002, Las Noticias became Las Noticias Univision and acquired the branding of all other Univision O&O stations news broadcasts. WLII began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition on September 26, 2010. Due to budget cuts that were imposed by Univision in Miami, WLII reduced its news department by between 20 and 50 employees, and Las Noticias a las 6 was reduced from 60 to 30 minutes. The station discontinued its weekend newscasts on January 5, 2014;[1] following this, it reduced its news operation from 35+1⁄2 to 32+1⁄2 hours each week, which led to the firing of 19 employees.
On October 17, 2014, Univision announced that Jaime Bauzá had been promoted to senior vice-president and general manager of all of the network's operations in Puerto Rico. The first change he made was the firing of 109 employees. This caused the closing of the entire news department, including reporters, anchors, and cameramen. On that day, the morning show Tu Mañana was shown as normal, but the midday show Tu Mediodia was not, during which time reporter Daisy Sánchez published on her Twitter account the announcement of the news department's closing.[2][3][4][5][6]
The roundtable talk show Rubén & Co. replaced the 5:00 p.m. spot left by Las Noticias. The show was extended from 30 to 60 minutes, and filled the 5:00 p.m. timeslot until its cancellation on January 20, 2016.[7]
Las Noticias Teleonce revival (since 2021)
On February 18, 2021, TeleOnce hired José Enrique "Kike" Cruz, who was news director at WAPA-TV for 32 years (from 1976 until his retirement in 2018), as an adviser for the revamped news department after more than six years without newscasts.[8] On April 14, 2021, TeleOnce hired Jenny Suarez, a former news producer at WAPA-TV, as its vice-president of the revamped news department.[9]
On June 7, 2021, WLII-DT confirmed their intentions to relaunch their newscasts with the new telecast set to premiere in late July/early August 2021 in the 5 p.m. timeslot.[10] Celimar Adames Casalduc (who anchored WAPA-TV's NotiCentro for 18 years) would join TeleOnce as the lead anchor for the newscast, and Deborah Martorell (who served as WAPA-TV's Chief Meteorologist for 27 years) would also be joining as TeleOnce's Chief Meteorologist.[11] It was also announced that Tatiana Ortiz and Nuria Sebazco (who previously hosted TeleOnce's morning newscast Tu Mañana) would return to the network, both migrating from WKAQ-TV.[12] On June 8, 2021, WLII-DT announced that Ricardo Currás (formerly of WKAQ-TV and who anchored morning newscasts from Univision O&O WXTV-DT) would join Adames as co-anchor.[13]
On June 23, 2021, WLII-DT announced that their relaunched newscast would be called Las Noticias TeleOnce, thus reviving the original brand which ran for almost 30 years.[14]Las Noticias TeleOnce premiered on July 12, 2021, with three editions: Las Noticias: Ahora ('The News: Now') at 3:55 p.m., Las Noticias: Prime ('The News: Prime') at 4:55 p.m., and Las Noticias: Última Edición ('The News: Final Edition') at 10:00 p.m. All three editions were anchored by Adames and Currás, and featured Martorell on weather and Luis Joel Aymat (who anchored the former Edicion Puerto Rico newscast) in sports.[15][16][17]
Title card for the 4pm newscast "Las Noticias Ahora"
On October 4, 2021, Las Noticias added a political analysis team composed of former Puerto Rican Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila, former gubernatorial candidate Alexandra Lúgaro, journalist and Jugando Pelota Dura contributor Leo Aldridge, and lawyer Ramón Rosario Cortés. The segment entitled "El Comentario de la Tarde" features one of the aforementioned commentators breaking down a news item alongside anchors Currás and Adames.[18]
On October 11, 2021, the nightly newscast Las Noticias: Última Edición moved from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. due to premiere of WLII's new late-night talk show, Acuéstate con Francis.[19]
On November 18, 2021, WLII-DT announced that Las Noticias would add another daily newscast, this one during the midday time slot. The newscast, titled Las Noticias Al Mediodía ('The News at Noon'), debuted December 6, 2021, at 12 p.m. and features Celimar Adames, Nuria Sebazco and Deborah Martorell, which, according to WLII, is the first all-female local news team in Puerto Rico. This edition follows a different format from the other newscasts, and features segments on lifestyle, travel, and finances.[20]
On December 3, 2021, Celimar Adames announced that she will no longer anchor the 11 p.m. broadcast of Última Edición, and would instead focus on anchoring the midday and afternoon broadcasts; field reporter Shirlyan Odette would replace her for the 11 p.m. broadcast.[21]
On December 9, 2021, during the station's upfront presentation, VP of News Jenny Suarez and consultant José Enrique "Kike" Cruz announced the revival of the morning news show Tu Mañana. The show was slated to return in early 2022—over 8 years after its abrupt cancellation in October 2014. However, the following year, it was delayed until late 2023.[22][23][24][25]
On December 14, 2021, WLII-DT launched a new investigative unit for the news department headed by journalist and lawyer Mardelis Jusino, who worked at the investigative division of Jugando Pelota Dura, as well as for WAPA-TV and WMTJ. The investigative unit team consists of Melissa Correa, who worked for 18 years at El Vocero; Tatiana Ortiz and Arnaldo Rojas, who worked as an anchor and reporter for WAPA-TV from 2002 to 2008.[26]
On January 11, 2022, WLII-DT announced that former representative Gary Rodriguez, who worked for WAPA-TV's Lo Sé Todo would be joining Las Noticias as a political commentator. His on-air debut was on January 15, 2022. The new section titled El Fuetazo de Gary officially began on January 24, 2021, and airs during the midday and evening newscasts.[27]
On January 23, 2022, WLII-DT announced that Liam Rodríguez Muñoz, who worked for ABC News Extra, would join the news department as a video journalist and reporter. Rodríguez Muñoz previously worked for the station, as a panelist for Los Seis de la Tarde and as a reporter and content producer for Jugando Pelota Dura.[28]
On March 22, 2022, Andrea Rivera, who worked for WAPA-TV as a host for Viva la Tarde, joined WLII-DT's news department as an entertainment reporter, and premiered its segment called Primera Fila on April 4, 2022. She also co-hosts La Boveda de Teleonce, which serves as a lead-in for Las Noticias.[29]
On July 3, 2023, the station announced Cristina Pagán as its new sports reporter. Pagán comes from WKAQ-TV where she worked as segment producer, she replaces Luis Joel Aymat who was dismissed from the position earlier in the year.[30]
On October 12, 2023, WLII announced the hiring of Carlos Tolentino Rosario to Las Noticias. Rosario previously worked as a reporter for newspaper "El Nuevo Día" and will be taking over the weather report segment on the night broadcast after Manuel Crespo Feliciano was promoted to anchor of the station's upcoming morning show "En La Mañana".[31]
WLII debuted on the morning show format with "Tu Mañana" in 1991. The show quickly became a leader in morning news with anchors Bruni Torries and Felipe Gomez Martinez and ran until 2014 when the decision to close of the station's news department effectively cancelled the program. In October 2023, the show will finally be revived almost a decade after its cancellation. The new version of the show will be named "En La Mañana" (In the Morning) rather than "Tu Mañana" (Your Morning) and will be anchored by Manuel Crespo Feliciano and Maricarmen Ortiz. The premiere is set for October 30, 2023.[32]
On-air staff
Celimar Adames Casalduc, anchor
Deborah Martorell, Chief Meteorologist
Ricardo Currás, anchor of Última Edición and field reporter
Shirlyan Odette, anchor of Última Edición and field reporter
Since the show's revival in 2021, it has received multiple Emmy nominations and won the award for Best Evening Newscast Evening – Larger Markets and Daytime Newscast in 2022. The multiple Emmy trophies are displayed behind the anchor's desk at the studio during the broadcasts.
