Justin Cruz is well-versed in island life and weather. He grew up in Guam where storms, including super-cyclones, hit regularly.
It’s also where he got his love for news. “We had nothing else to watch growing up. My family didn’t have cable TV,” he says. At age 17, Justin got a job in radio. He was the youngest on-air personality at the time.
In 1996, Justin traded one tropical island for another, moving to Honolulu to attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Shortly after, he was offered a slot on a weekend radio show, which led to a decade-long career with KQMQ as program director and morning show radio host.
Justin joined KHON2 as a weather anchor in 2006. In addition to his daily weather reports, Justin is passionate about alerting viewers of potentially dangerous weather events and how best to prepare.
From election nights to tsunami warnings, Justin also loves the rush of breaking news. “The wall-to-wall coverage of pending natural disasters is always a challenge, but the most rewarding,” he says.
When he’s not in the newsroom, Justin can most likely be found deep in the Koolau mountain range: “Let’s just say I’m addicted to hiking.”
