Univision San Antonio celebrates 60th Anniversary

KWEX 41 Univision San Antonio, a station that helped shape the Univision Network and Spanish-language television across the United States, celebrated its 60th anniversary with a huge community event on Sunday, June 28, 2015 at Traders Village.
 
San Antonians joined Univision leaders and personalities to mark the station’s accomplishments, reminisce and celebrate Hispanic culture to the tunes of the ranchera group La Original Banda el Limón. The event also featured performances by Grupo Varonil, Lucky Joe, Stefani Montiel, La Reunión Norteña, Michael Salgado, AJ Castillo; Energía Norteña, Las Fénix, Polo Urías y Su Máquina Norteña, Rubén Ramos & the Texas Revolution, David Lee Garza, Los Texmaniacs, Campanas de América, Jerry Díaz/Ballet Folklórico, Fiebre Kolombiana and Kat deLuna.
 
During the day-long event, Univision viewers joined many of the faces they see onscreen: Maria Antonieta Collins, senior correspondent at Noticiero Univision; Lourdes Stephen, co-host of Sal y Pimienta (Salt and Pepper); Tony Dandrades, reporter on Primer Impacto (First Impact); Arantxa Loizaga, news anchor of the weekend evening edition of Noticiero Univision; and co-host Alan Tacher and reporter Orlando Segura from Despierta América (Wake Up America).
 
In addition, Raúl Brindis, host of the popular syndicated radio show “El Show de Raúl Brindis” (The Raul Brindis Show), a fixture on many Univision Radio stations nationwide, was joined by KWEX’s local on-air personalities, including news anchors Jorge Núñez, Brenda Jiménez, and Myrna Salas;  senior reporters Antonio Guillén and Mónica Navarro; weather anchor Prissila Sánchez; reporter Keyhla Calderón; video journalists Anuar Revuelta and Mariana Veraza; morning weather traffic reporter Alejandra Becerra; sports anchor Rafeal Carderera; and sports video journalist Francisco “Paco” Fuentes.
 
Since first going on the air in 1955, KWEX 41 has been a pillar of the San Antonio community and an integral force in the television industry across the nation. It was the first full-time, Spanish-language television station and first UHF channel in the continental U.S. Two decades after its founding, it became the center of operations of Spanish International Network (S.I.N.), which went on to become the Univision Network.
 
On Friday, Univision Network, Univision San Antonio and community leaders also marked the occasion with the grand opening of the station’s downtown studio at historic Market Square and honored Emilio Nicolás Sr., a station pioneer. An annual $2,500 scholarship in honor of the Nicolás Family will be put in place in the Fall of 2016 eligible to San Antonio students pursuing a degree in Communications or Journalism.