Doral,
Fla.- For almost forty years, Eliott Rodriguez, the noon, five and six o’clock News
Anchor at CBS4 News in Miami, has reported on the some of the most important
stories impacting South Florida, throughout the United States, Europe, and
Latin America. A son of Cuban parents, he was born in New York City and lived
there until he was 12 years old When his family moved to Miami. He
attended La Salle High School in Coconut Grove. After graduation, he was
on to Miami Dade College and The University of Miami, where he earned a degree
in Communications. But Eliott’s Journalism career happened quite by accident.
His goal was to be a Graphic Artist, but a professor at Miami-Dade College steered
him toward news reporting. Over time, he became more involved with the college
newspaper and spent less tome in the art studio. Eliott says he loved how
journalism allowed him to tell stories and share important information with his
readers.
Eliott is an incredibly dedicated and hardworking
Journalist. He learned his work habits from his parents. They came to
this country as immigrants and he watched them work hard all of their
lives. His father left Cuba and moved to New York, alone with no money
when he was only 21 years old. It was in New York where his parents met
and married. His father worked at a grocery story and eventually became
the owner. His work ethic comes from watching his parents work hard and
never letting anything get in their way. Eliott is very grateful for the
support he always received from them. They always encouraged him to pursue
whatever he wanted to do and they were nothing but supportive when he told his
parents that he wanted to become a Journalist.
Eliott has covered many important stories
throughout his career, but one was particularly special to him. When he was
part of WPLG Local 10 News in the 1990s, he traveled to Cuba on assignment.
While he was there, he traveled to Regla, a small town outside of Havana, where
he had the opportunity to meet some of his family members that he never knew
existed, as he always thought his family was small. He learned that his father
was one of eight children. He said that this is one of the greatest experiences
of his life as a Journalist.
Eliott has managed to balance his professional and personal life over the course of a
multi-decade career. He has worked weekends, holidays and even early morning
shifts which have resulted in him having to miss important events at his
daughters’ schools as well as holidays . Even through everything he has gone
through, family has always been his number one priority every step of the way.
Something most viewers may not know about the
CBS4 News Anchor is that he is a huge animal lover. He currently has a Facebook
page, called Operation Find Freddy, that helps pet owners find their lost
pets. He started it three years ago after his silky terrier named Freddy went
missing, only to be found one week later. Since then, he receives daily calls,
texts and emails from people asking for helping find their lost pets. Elliot
and his daughter Erica post the information on his site and they have had many
happy endings.
For those who want to become a Journalist, Eliott says it's important to be able to multitask. The world of Journalism is
very different now then when he started his career. He says that now you
have to be a reporter who writes the story, shoots the story, edits the story,
writes the web script, posts on social media, takes still photos and promotes
the story as well. He says that the young generation just has to be trained and
focused in a different way. New challenges for a new generation.
