Solano named weekend anchor on ‘Noticias Univision 41’ in NYC.

Victor Javier Solano has been named weekend anchor of “Noticias Univision 41,” the newscasts of New York’s premier Spanish-language TV station, Univision 41 (WXTV), it was announced by News Director Norma Morato. Solano is a four time winner of the Simon Bolivar National Journalism Award, the top journalistic prize in his native Colombia. Solano has anchored the weekend news on Univision 41 on a temporary basis since the summer of 2006, a period during which both the Saturday and Sunday 6 pm newscasts on Univision 41 placed first in the ratings for the first time ever.

“Solano’s ratings have been through the roof,” Morato said in making the announcement. “In the December survey, our Saturday and Sunday 6 pm newscasts were the top rated news programs in their time periods in New York in all three key audience groups.”

The Saturday 6 pm “Noticias Univision 41” was watched by an average of 60,000 New Yorkers aged 18 to 34, 137,000 aged 18 to 49, and 140,000 aged 25 to 54 according to Nielsen Station Index (NSI) Local People Meter (LPM) ratings. The news on WCBS-TV Channel 2 placed second among those aged 18 to 34 and 18 to 49, while the 6 pm “Eyewitness News” on WABC-TV Channel 7 placed second among those aged 25 to 54.

The Sunday, 6 pm “Noticias Univision 41” was watched by an average of 47,000 New Yorkers aged 18 to 34, 125,000 aged 18 to 49, and 141,000 aged 25 to 54. In each case the 6 pm “Eyewitness News” on WABC-TV Channel 7 placed second.

Victor Javier Solano earned a journalism degree in his native Colombia before becoming a reporter and TV anchor in the capital, Bogotá. Narco-terrorism and the drug cartels dominated his reporting. In 1990, he got an interview with Manuel Marulanda Velez, one of the world’s most notorious guerrilla fighters. He later made a mark exposing high-level corruption.