"NotiCentro" (a Spanish translation of NewsCenter) is the name of WAPA-TV's news division; the station presently broadcasts 70 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with eight hours on weekdays, and two hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). The news operation began in 1967 with Cuban-born Evelio Otero as the sole anchorman for the 6:00 p.m. newscast. Soon after, Carlos Ruben Ortiz joined the news staff for the 6:00 p.m. broadcast. Otero remained alone on camera, until his departure from WAPA in 1980 to take the senior editor position at the Voice of America in Washington. Ortiz shared the anchor slot at 6:00 p.m. with then newcomer Guillermo José Torres, a former radio announcer born in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico who has since become the longest standing news anchor on the island, with a career spanning 43 years (Torres retired on August 5, 2013). The format predated the "NewsCenter" format which became popular on NBC affiliates in the 1970s.