Alumni Spotlight: Anthony Medina (2013)

August 8th, 2023 by Liz Kosik

Anthony Medina, a graduate of Loyola University in 2013, reflects on his career, life, and time spent at Loyola. Medina shares some updates on his life while cherishing his WLOY days.

Q: Can you tell us about your show at WLOY? (name and theme, genre of music)

A:  I co-hosted a show on WLOY with one of my best friends, Jeff Poulos AKA Dj Pool Party Poulos. We called the show Know Your Role after one of Dwayne “The 

Rock” Johnson’s famous catchphrases from the late ’90s. I’ve always been a diehard professional wrestling fan and Jeff and I bonded over our love of some of the all-time greats. I actually think he came up with the name. We played classic rock and had gimmicks like top 5 lists and running jokes. And at the end of every show, we’d tell someone that needed to hear to know their role. All the bits and banter and promos were such a fun and creative outlet for us. But it was really just another excuse to spend time with my friend. And I think our friendship was the cohesive element of the show that made it work. People picked up on our connection and friendship and I think it made those who listened smile.

Q: Who is your favorite artist now? 

A: It’s funny. I generally liked the music we played on the show, but classic rock was never my go-to genre. I just thought it fit the other themes of the show. My favorite artist right now is probably Bad Bunny who we never would have played on Know Your Role 😂. I’ve also always loved the Avett Brothers, John Prime, and 50 Cent. So that tells you a little bit about where my musical tastes lie. Which is really all over the place.

Q: What do you do for work? Did your experiences at WLOY transfer into your work? 

A: Earlier this year I started as a community organizer for this wonderful non-profit in East Baltimore called the Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition. But up until then, I was working in community engagement roles at colleges and universities and even for a national higher education non-profit. 

I think a big part of our show was connecting with each other, with our guests, and with our friends and family who were listening in. In all of my roles, I’ve had to translate those conversational skills and ability to meaningfully connect with whoever is in front of me into work that (ideally) benefits and strengthens our communities. 

I don’t want to make the show sound that serious. But the chance to have a platform like that to express my ideas and foster community with our friends and family and Boulder patrons, helped me grow in confidence to do that in other spaces. The collaboration with Jeff was also just so incredibly fun. It’s an example of a collaborative relationship that I seek to emulate in my professional life.

Q: Tell us your favorite WLOY memory. 

A: There are so many memories. I loved the shows where we had guests join us. Like the time my brother Ryan, who was a freshman at Loyola, came on. Or when we had one of our shared mentors, Pat Range, on the show. Those stick out because of how much fun we had making those episodes. I was fortunate enough to do a reunion show with Jeff in 2018 and my wife, my brother, and our other dear friend Matt Pallis (Palsy) got to join us. To me, that was the ultimate.

Q: One piece of advice for current students looking to enter the broadcast/entertainment industry:  

A: I’m not in that industry, but no matter what role I’ve had, my creativity has been necessary for each of them and has often been a value-add to teams that don’t always have folks with those abilities. I’m not one for capital A advice, but there were so many opportunities at Loyola that gave me a chance to find and hone my voice. To figure out what it was I wanted to say and how I might want to say it. And then what to do about it once it was spoken out loud. Take advantage of those spaces. 

The longer I’ve been out in the world the more important I find being grounded in some semblance of my own voice is. 

The other thing I really took away from my time at WLOY is to try to work with people you genuinely enjoy being around. I got to do that with Poulos on the show and my favorite work environments since have always been involved in finding like-minded and similarly-hearted people to collaborate with.