Christian Villegas promoted to news director at Telemundo’s Arizona stations

Christian Villegas has been promoted to news director for Telemundo 39 (KTAZ) in Phoenix, Arizona, and Telemundo 40 (KHRR) in Tucson, Arizona, the NBCUniversal-owned stations announced Aug. 24, 2026.

Villegas will oversee editorial, production and news operations for Noticiero Telemundo Arizona across the stations’ television, streaming, digital and social platforms. He will report to Andrew Deschapelles, president and general manager of Telemundo’s stations serving Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas.

The promotion continues an 11-year run for Villegas with KTAZ and KHRR. He most recently served as executive producer after starting with the stations as an intern in 2016.

Villegas has held a series of newsroom positions, including photojournalist, assignment editor, content producer, evening news producer and senior producer. He also has served as political coverage lead and special coverage coordinator.

“Christian is a passionate newsroom leader who has spent the past 10 years helping build our culture of service from within,” Deschapelles said in a statement. “He understands our audience, knows our newsroom and shares our team’s deep commitment to serving the community.”

During Villegas’ tenure, the stations said the Noticiero Telemundo Arizona team has reached No. 1 rankings across languages for daytime and primetime newscasts, according to the Telemundo.

“I am deeply honored to continue leading our exceptionally talented team of journalists who work every day to empower our community,” Villegas said. “Our community relies on access to transparent and valuable information, and at Noticiero Telemundo Arizona, they can count on us to deliver it with accuracy, integrity and commitment.”

Villegas has received four Emmy Awards for work in field production, photojournalism and newscast production. He attended Mesa Community College and is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

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