Ilia Calderon will be the new co-anchor of Spanish-language network Univision's nightly newscast "Noticiero Univision."
Univision announced Wednesday that Calderon will join Jorge Ramos next month on the program, succeeding his longtime co-anchor Maria Elena Salinas.
Salinas announced in August that she was stepping down from the program and ending her 36-year run at Univision. Salinas will have a program on true crime network Investigation Discovery next year.
According to Univision, Calderon is the first Afro-Latina to anchor a national newscast in the U.S. She is a native of the Choco region of Colombia.
As a correspondent for the Univision newsmagazine program "Aqui y Ahora," Calderon had a viral video moment this year with her interview of Ku Klux Klan leader Chris Barker. Calderon stood firm as Barker told her she was the first black person ever to set foot on his North Carolina property, used a racial slur to describe her and threatened to "burn you out."
Calderon, 45, was a local and national anchor in her home country until 2001, when she moved to Miami to join Spanish-language network Telemundo. She was an anchor at Telemundo until joining Univision in 2007. She has been an anchor on Univision's "Primer Impacto" and "Noticiero Univision: Edition Nocturna."
In addition to "Noticiero Univision," Calderon will also co-host "Aqui y Ahora," which airs Sunday nights, alongside Teresa Rodriguez.
