WPLG-TV’s Bert Medina, president and CEO of WPLG, Inc., was inducted into the FIU Alumni Hall of Fame at Florida International University in ceremonies held on Friday, Oct. 7.
The honor is given to recognize the merit, dedication and leadership of the individual and his or her work in his or her chosen career of communication, according to the School of Communication + Journalism.
“They exhibit a high degree of character and integrity, and push the boundaries further. Evidence of excellence can be found in awards and honors for achievements, as well as other recognitions, including the impact of their work,” according to the school.
The Alumni Hall of Fame is designed to be the highest honor a graduate of the SCJ can attain from his or her school.
Nicole Perez introduced the honoree at the event taking place on the FIU Biscayne Bay campus in North Miami. We shared a video of the WPLG broadcasting executive’s amazing life and career, a journey that began in Pinar Del Rio, Cuba, and then brought him to Miami in 1969. He would graduate from FIU in 1984. He has worked in the communications industry for nearly 40 years.
Medina became President of WPLG, Inc., in July of 2014. Prior to that, he served as WPLG’s Vice President and General Manager beginning in October 2013. Medina is also CEO of Miami Tower LLC.
Previously, Medina held a variety of executive management positions during a 13-year tenure with Univision. He served as senior Vice President and Operating Manager of the TeleFuturaTelevision Network, a unit of Univision Communications, where he propelled it to the number two Spanish-language broadcast network (behind its sister network, Univision). Earlier, in Chicago, he served as Vice President and General Manager of Univision’s WGBO-TV and TeleFutura’s WXFT-TV, launching the latter as TeleFutura’s flagship station and positioning them as the number one and number two Spanish-language stations in that market, respectively.
Prior to Univision, Medina served in several key executive positions during 14 years with Sunbeam Television Corporation, including Vice President, Programming and Operations and Corporate Director of Programming.
Medina began his career at Sunbeam’s Miami station, WSVN-TV, as a Research Analyst and later, Research Director, Director of Marketing and Director of Broadcast Operations.
The FIU School of Communication + Journalism (SCJ)– under the College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts– inducted its first cohort into the inaugural class of the SCJ Hall of Fame in April 2019. According to the school, the individuals were nominated and selected by peers in the industry because of their noteworthy accomplishments and advancement within the fields of communication, journalism, and media.
Also inducted with Medina for the current Hall of Fame selections were: Marisabel Muñoz, who leads all U.S. Hispanic and international communications and media relations, as Sr. Vice President of Communications for Major League Soccer and its commercial arm, Soccer United Marketing (SUM); multi-Emmy-award winning journalist Griselle Marino, a communications professional who has served the community for the past 30 years, and Nicole de Lara Puente, who joined the Live Like Bella® Childhood Cancer Foundation as Chief Executive Officer in June of 2017.