Happy Homecoming for ’BZ NEWBIE
There's a new morning anchor coming back to town. Starting April 3, Boston's early risers will see a fresh face on WBZ-TV (Ch.4): Anaridis Rodriguez. For Rodriguez, who most recently worked as an anchor and correspondent for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, the move to the Hub's CBS affiliate is a homecoming. The newswoman immigrated to Providence, R.I., from the Dominican Republic when she was 12 so Boston has served as a major backdrop throughout her life.
“My uncle, Luis Ortiz, played for the Red Sox,” Rodriguez told the Track. “So my first experience with the city was a game at Fenway, and I loved it.”
She went on to earn her master's degree in broadcast journalism at Emerson College.
“I had my coming of age here,” she said. “I lived in the North End and I took the T as a student journalist, so I learned every part of the city from front to back.”
After graduating in 2011, Rodriguez worked as a weekend anchor and reporter for WWLPTV in Springfield. Her assignments there included covering the Boston Marathon bombings, as well as the opioid crisis that's plaguing the Pioneer Valley as it is the rest of the state.
“I like beat reporting because that's where I gained my journalism foundation, as a weekend anchor and bureau reporter,” Rodriguez said.
But she added, “I'm coming here as a utility player. I like helping wherever I can and jumping on stories that are affecting the community.”
Rodriguez said she'll rely on her knowledge of the city and the people — though she notes there may be been a change or two since she was last here.
“My favorite pasta spot on Hanover is now a frozen yogurt store ... A lot has changed, but a lot has stayed the same,” Rodriguez said.