Rafael Pineda is a 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 1972, Pineda surpassed Bill Beutel of WABC-TV as the longest-serving anchor in New York television history.
For more than thirty years, Pineda was the lead news anchor on WXTV. In 1988 he became host of the first Spanish language first local interview program in the tri-state area, Punto y Aparte. He led Noticias 41 to first place among New York's Spanish language newscasts. He was the first Spanish-speaking news anchor to interview both political figures and celebrities such as Bill Clinton and Desi Arnaz.
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]