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- Maggie Rodriguez (born December 12, 1969) has been a co-anchor of the CBS television program, The Early Show, since December 2007. Rodriguez is also a substitute anchor for Katie Couric on The CBS Evening News. Previously, Rodriguez served as co-anchor of the Saturday edition of The Early Show in 2007. Rodriguez was born in Miami and grew up in South Florida. She attended American University in Washington, D.C. and graduated from the University of Miami in 1991 with a degree in broadcast journalism and Spanish. Rodriguez and her husband have a daughter. From 1991 until 1994, Rodriguez served as a reporter for the Univision network in Miami. Rodriguez' career in journalism began at WLTV-DT (1989-90), a Univision owned-and-operated station in Miami, where she was an associate producer, field producer and assignment editor. From 1994 until 2000, Rodriguez was anchor of the midday news and of a weekend news magazine show at KABC-TV in Los Angeles, California. Rodriguez was also a field reporter and covered a wide array of stories, including earthquakes, mudslides and the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Before joining CBS News, Rodriguez anchored the 5:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. newscasts at WFOR-TV, the CBS owned-and-operated station in Miami, from 2000 until 2007. While there, she reported on and anchored coverage of a wide range of major news events, including many hurricanes and, from New York City, the one-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Rodriguez also was first on the air with coverage of the transfer of power in Cuba from Fidel Castro to his brother, Raul. Ultimately, the newscast received an RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award for its coverage of that story. Rodriguez has received a total of seven Emmy Awards and two RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Awards. Rodriguez' alma mater, the University of Miami, awarded her the first-ever "Alpha Epsilon Rho Professional of the Year Award", its top honor for professionals in the communication industry. She also is the recipient of the Hispanic Heritage Council’s prestigious "Young Hispanic Leadership Award" for professional accomplishments and community service. Ms. Rodriguez landed a buzzy interview with Levi Johnston in which he dished on his breakup with Bristol Palin. And on April 16, The Early Show got British pop music sensation Susan Boyle to sing for the first time for an American TV audience. Not surprisingly, this past month, The Early Show enjoyed a relatively successful May sweeps—racking up a 5 percent increase in year-to-year total viewers and remaining flat in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic, at a time when both NBC’s Today and ABC’s Good Morning America were shedding viewers. Even as Smith, Chen and Rodriguez grow more comfortable after CBS's failed experiment with a four-anchor team, the program remains far behind its rivals. After the May sweeps, the "Early Show" boasted of a 5 percent increase in viewers, while "Today" dipped 3 percent and "Good Morning America" 4 percent. Howard Kurtz's WaPo profile of CBS "Early Show" co-host Maggie Rodriguez says her addition to the program accounts for "an uptick in the ratings, lifting spirits at the broadcast. " In recent months, Rodriguez has landed some high-profile interviews with the Caylee Anthony grandparents, Levi Johnston, and impugned Miami Priest, Father Alberto Cutié. The scandal beat might not be her favorite, but Rodriguez understands that it's often what her audience gets excited about: "If I were to program a show for my viewing pleasure, I would make it all news," says Rodriguez, 39. "But we're programming for all of America. We have to include Jon and Kate [Gosselin] -- regardless of whether I personally care, they're on the cover of every magazine. You can't be so highbrow that you only cover hard news. I'm not a journalistic snob. " In addition to her morning show duties, the Miami transplant has also regularly been filling in as an anchor for the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric."
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