THE 2022 SILVER CIRCLE LOCAL HONOREES
Pembroke Pines, FL (April 2022) – The Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is pleased to announce the 2022 Silver Circle honorees. The annual recognition is given to individuals who have worked with distinction in the television industry within the Suncoast Region, which includes the State of Florida, the State of Louisiana, the Mobile, Alabama-Pensacola, Florida television markets, as well as Puerto Rico. Six of this year’s honorees are from the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, and Tallahassee markets and three are from Puerto Rico. The six local honorees are Joyce Belloise, WPBT-TV, Chris Cifatte, WINK-TV, Neal Hecker, The Programming Service, Peter Hofener, WSVN-TV, Michael Malanga, Freelance Camera Operator, and Bert Medina, WPLG-TV. You can view this year’s in-person ceremony right here. The event took place on Sunday, May 22, 2022, at the Westin Beach Resort & Spa in Fort Lauderdale. 2022 Silver Circle Press Release
Joyce Belloise
WPBT-TV, South Florida PBS, Miami, FL
Joyce Belloise currently serves as Sr. Vice President of Content and Community Partnerships at South Florida PBS. From compelling documentaries to innovative children’s programming and cutting-edge NextGen content, Joyce manages over a dozen South Florida PBS original productions. Over the years, Joyce’s work as a producer has garnered eight regional Emmy® Awards, six Telly Awards, three National Communicator Awards, and a Louis Wolfson Film & Television Award. Her documentary work focuses on history and culture, with such notable programs as Imagining a New Florida and the Emmy award-winning Buen Provecho! Florida’s Spanish Flavor. Passionate about the stories of her home state, the Miami native has produced a number of documentaries and television series over the years, from the weekly magazine program, New Florida … to the travel series Florida Roadtrip … to the popular restaurant review show, Check, Please! South Florida.
Chris Cifatte
WINK-TV, Ft. Myers, FL
Emmy award-winner Chris Cifatte anchors WINK News at 5 and 6pm with Lois Thome, and WINK News at 11 with Amanda Hall. Chris has spent most of his career in Southwest Florida – joining WINK-TV in 2002. Here, he has covered and uncovered many big stories ranging from hurricanes Charley, Wilma (anchoring for 24 hours straight), and Irma, to a year-long investigation into FEMA underpaying victims of Hurricane Charley for their flood damage. Several families were paid-in-full after those stories aired. That series was used at a White House briefing as part of testimony on behalf of the victims. He was the first Southwest Florida TV reporter or anchor to broadcast live from Cuba. Chris has also covered five different Presidents and candidates on local visits or campaign stops. He is an adjunct faculty member at FGCU and works individually with many of the reporters and producers at WINK. Chris was also Lee County’s Big Brother of the Year in 2006 in the Big Brother/Big Sister program.
Neal Hecker
The Programming Service, Tampa FL
Neal has 40 years of experience in Broadcasting and Cable with over 35 years working in public television in both programming and production. He began his career in 1979 scheduling UPTOWN, a regional movie channel for Group W cable in Northern Manhattan. In 1986 he started in public broadcasting at WNYC-TV in New York City and moved to South Florida in 1998, where he was hired by WPBT as its Program Manager. Neal served on the board of the Public Television Programmers Association (PTPA) and was a programming representative to PBS’s Development Advisory Committee (DAC). He is currently on the American Public Television’s (APT) Premium Service Advisory Board and has been a member of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) board from 2009-2014. Neal has written and produced multiple award-winning programs and series for WPBT, including the multiple Emmy-award winning art series, Art Loft, now celebrating its 10th anniversary. As a producer, he was honored with an ACE award, multiple Suncoast Emmys, and a CLIO nomination. After a 16-year tenure in South Florida, Neal joined The Programming Service in 2014, based in Tampa, Florida, where he serves as Senior Vice President.
Peter Hofener
WSVN-TV, Miami, FL
Having covered more than 650 Miami Dolphins games, 300 University of Miami football games, and countless other sporting events, Peter Hofener has been a constant and familiar presence in the local sports community for nearly four decades while working for WSVN-TV. With stops along the way in Fort Myers and Birmingham, Alabama, Peter has covered legendary and hall of fame coaches like Bear Bryant, Don Shula, Gene Bartow, Jimmy Johnson, Pat Riley, and superstar athletes like Bo Jackson, Charles Barkley, Dan Marino, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Jason Taylor, and Zach Thomas. He’s covered over 15 Super Bowls, five NBA Finals, three Kentucky Derbies, two World Series, a Stanley Cup Final, and several college football national title games. But above all else, Peter is most proud of the sports department’s coverage of high school sports and the timeless relationships he has developed over the years within the community. He was awarded a Regional Emmy for his coverage of the Chicago Bears-Miami Dolphins game on Monday Night Football in 1985. He considers it all a blessing and a heck of a ride.
Michael Malanga
Freelance Camera Operator, Miami, FL
When Michael Malanga was just 10 years old, his uncle gave him a tour of NBC in New York City, where his uncle worked. Immediately, Michael knew that this was the career for him. Michael’s first job, while still in high school, was an internship as a photojournalist for a group of weekly newspapers. He graduated from FIU with a full scholarship and interned at WTVJ. After WTVJ, he worked for Storer Communications in the production department. His dream had always been to work as a photojournalist for local television news. Surpassing those goals, he began working for a national, nightly newscast. At PBS’s Nightly Business Report, he became the Senior Photojournalist/Editor. Over his 26 years at NBR, he became the person to go to for creatively shot, lit, and edited feature stories and specials. When NBR was sold to CNBC in March 2013, he became a full-time freelance operator, specializing in handheld camera for unscripted entertainment shows and national award shows. He has worked on the Spanish editions of “The Voice,” “Dancing with the Stars,” and “MasterChef”, in addition to many other national productions. His camera, lighting, and editing work have won several awards, including two Suncoast Emmy nominations, and one Suncoast Emmy win.
Bert Medina
WPLG-TV, Miami, FL
Bert is President & CEO of WPLG, INC., which operates the ABC, MeTV, and H&I affiliates. Medina became President of WPLG, INC., in July of 2014. Medina is also CEO of Miami Tower LLC. Previously, Medina held a variety of executive management positions during his 13-year tenure with Univision and prior to that, his 14 years with Sunbeam Television Corporation. In 2014 Medina became a member of the WPLG Board of Directors. He is also on the Board of Directors for Florida Association of Broadcasters, Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication, the Marfan Foundation, where he serves as Secretary, National Association of Broadcasters, Emma Bowen Foundation Advisory Board, and Seneca Park Association Board, where he is Secretary and Treasurer. Medina served on the Board of Governors for the ABC Television Affiliates Association from 2015 through 2020. Previously, Medina has served on the boards of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Illinois State Broadcasters Association, and the Board of Trustees of Columbia College. He has also served on the boards of the South Florida Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the American Marketing Association. Medina received his Bachelor of Science in Communications from Florida International University.
THE 2022 SILVER CIRCLE PUERTO RICO HONOREES
This year’s Silver Circle Puerto Rico honorees are Cyd Marie Fleming, Teleonce,
Sylvia Gómez, Telemundo Puerto Rico, Luz Nereida Vélez, WAPA-TV and Eddie Miró, Gold Circle Honoree. This outstanding group of professionals was honored on Saturday, June 11th at the Centro de Banquetes Los Chavales, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Cyd Marie Fleming
Teleonce
One of the island’s most recognized and respected news anchors, Cyd Marie Fleming’s experience exceeds her years in television.
Cyd Marie, who studied at Universidad de Besancon in France and St. Leo College in Tampa, Florida, was the familiar face viewers turned to when she became the anchor of TeleOnce’s morning show “Tu Mañana” in 1991, a position she held until 1997. She, later on, went to work for 21 years in front of tv cameras as the anchor of Univision Puerto Rico’s Las Noticias. Since then, Cyd Marie has provided audiences an extension of her head-on, no holds barred style in several television shows.
In 2016, Cyd then took her incisive style to WIPR, where she hosted “Sin Titubeo,” a television proposal that presented the news from different points of view so that the viewer could make informed decisions about the issues that affect their present and future. Simultaneously, she hosted “La Historia Completa” on ABC-Puerto Rico. The television program presented investigative journalism stories that have impacted the political, social, cultural, and economic life of Puerto Rico.
She made history with her interview with Barack Obama in June 2011, becoming the first Puerto Rican television reporter to interview a sitting President. She’s also known for interviewing other international personalities such as Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachov, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President of Venezuela, Carlos Andrés Pérez, former President of the National Republican Committee, Michael Steele, and Federal Secretary of Education, Arnie Duncan, among others. Her work and interviews have been recognized nationally and internationally and have received awards on multiple occasions, including two nominations and a Suncoast Regional Emmy® Award in 2005.
In October 2021, she returned to WL11, formerly Univision, to join the panel of experts on the popular daily news-analysis program “Pelota Dura.”
Cyd has always promoted projects that favor investigation, debates, and diversity as a service to Puerto Rico and the Hispanic community on the mainland.
Sylvia Gómez
Telemundo Puerto Rico
Sylvia Gómez never imagined having a career lasting more than 47 years in Puerto Rican television news. She studied for a bachelor’s degree at the University of Puerto Rico, concentrating in theater and another in English literature. She worked as a theater and soap opera actress on television and animated and produced an educational program on WIPR-TV, Channel 6.
Sylvia always thought that she would become a university professor and act in theater and television in her spare time. But after studying for a master’s degree in literature at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and taking several graduate courses in television journalism as electives, she returned to the island. Through a series of coincidences, Sylvia tried out as a television reporter. She got the job, and in 1975 she became a reporter for WKBM-TV Channel 11, becoming the second woman to appear on television news in PR. Shortly after that, she became a reporter and news anchorwoman for Channel 11.
In 1979 she became a reporter and female anchor for WAPA-TV Channel 4, and in 1980 she was recruited as a reporter and female anchor for Telenoticias on WKAQ-TV Channel 2. She remained as a reporter and anchor until 1994 and then as a television reporter until the present day.
She was also a professor at the School of Communications at the University of PR, wrote for a magazine on environmental issues, and did public service programs for PBS in Boston, Mass.
Throughout her career, she has stood out for her coverage of environmental issues. For 21 years, she had a section dedicated to environmental issues in the Channel 2 newscast. She was the first Puerto Rican television reporter to do an extensive series of reports on the ecological problems of our coasts and seas and is in the Who’s Who Environmental Registry.
She has garnered dozens of awards from the Puerto Rico Journalists Association and the Overseas Press Club for her reporting and documentary series. She has received six Emmy ® nominations and three Suncoast Regional Emmy® Awards.
Luz Nereida Vélez
WAPA-TV
Born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Luz Nereida Vélez had two passions: communications and medicine. So her childhood was spent learning everything she could about health and recording as she worked on a radio talk show.
She completed all of her studies in public schools, including her college studies at the Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (RUM), which belongs to Puerto Rico’s public education system. Though her bachelor’s degree is in biology and chemistry, because she worked as an anchor for a local news show on WOLE-TV during her college years, she decided to continue her post-graduate studies in Broadcast Journalism at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
She started working as an anchor-reporter for WAPA-TV 43 years ago in 1979 and has remained working at the same television station. In addition to being a reporter and anchor, she has been a producer, weathercaster, and translator (she speaks three languages: Spanish, English, and French). Currently (and she has been doing so for many years), she is in charge of Health News. She also worked as a correspondent for CNN World News and worked as a communications professor at the Communications Department at the University of Puerto Rico. For the past 12 years, she has had her radio show at Noti-Uno 630 am. Luz has been recognized by many organizations, the government, schools, and universities, among others.
She is a mom of a 25-year-old young woman who loves the gym, cooking, and reading. Luz is always trying to be an example for others through her programs, knowing that staying healthy is a compromise you make with yourself and that age has nothing to do with it.
Eddie Miró
GOLD CIRCLE RECIPIENT
Born in Humacao, PR, in 1935, Eddie Miró, TV host, writer, actor, comedian, and producer, became the most acclaimed television host for Telemundo PR with a career that extends for more than five decades from the 1950s to the 2000s. Eddie, always distinguished by his elegance, eloquence, presence, and humbleness, generated a special connection with the audience that still lasts today.
Eddie was a host to many shows during his prime, including “El Show de las 12,” which aired on Telemundo PR for 40 years. Eddie was not only the show’s central figure—he participated as an actor in the comedy sketches that he wrote.
Additionally, Eddie became the TV host of “Noche de Gala,” a weekly musical program that aired for 27 successful years. Eddie also became co-host of “Super Sábados” (Super Saturdays), a 3-hour live game show that aired on Saturdays for Telemundo Puerto Rico. He also hosted “Salsa Sábado en la Noche,” a variety show dedicated to the salsa music genre.
His start in the industry was in radio, where he met producer Tommy Muñiz. His TV debut came with the birth of the industry in 1954 as a scriptwriter and comedian for various shows.
Eddie and actor-turned-producer Paquito Cordero became a winning team. They were the pioneers of the television industry and created some of the most emblematic shows; Paquito producing and Eddie as the writer and host. He also was a screenwriter and actor in various films. For many decades, this dynamic duo placed Telemundo as the undisputable number-one TV station in PR. In 2004, Telemundo PR named Studio # 1 the Eddie Miró Studio.
With over 1 million minutes, over 16,000 hours, on the air in front of the cameras, Eddie Miró’s legacy entails countless contributions to the entertainment industry and popular culture in Puerto Rico, the US, and Latin America; but most of all to the television industry as a TV host, writer, comedian, and actor.