 I'm Rusty Komori, host of Beyond the Lines. It's a brand new, premier show about achieving and sustaining success. We are filming live every Monday from 10 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. on the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. Today's guest is Justin Cruz from KHON 2 News, and we will be going Beyond Weather. Justin. Hey. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me, Rusty. And by the way, congratulations on the new book Beyond the Lines. I know that you've been working really hard. I mean, I've known you for like a decade and a half. I never thought you'd be writing a book, but man, you powered through it. And I saw that entire process of congratulations on that. Thanks a lot. Thanks for being here. I want to ask you, Justin, what is the forecast going to be like with weather in this Think Tech studio today? In this studio? By the way, look at the beach. It's gorgeous. I mean, you couldn't get a better forecast right now. It looks good. It looks good. And the forecast for the show, I think, is going to be very successful for you. Congrats on that. Thank you. Now, hundreds of thousands of people tune in to watch you on the news practically on a daily basis. Give us some of your history about the early years of Justin Cruz. Okay. Were you born in Hawaii? You know, I was not. I moved here in 96, so I've been here going on 22 years now. I was born in Saigon, Vietnam. My mom is Vietnamese. My dad is from LA. And both of them worked for the US government in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. So I was kind of like, you know, born there. And we lived in Saigon and lived outside of the base there. And one day, my dad came home and said, we are leaving now. The war is US, like withdrawing troops. We have to get out of here. So we took whatever we could and pretty much hopped on a plane. We're evacuated to the Philippines, Clark Air Force Base, and then eventually Guam, which is where I grew up. So my dad basically said, look, I moved away from LA to live in another place. There's no way I'm going back to that jungle that is Los Angeles. So I ended up growing up on Guam, and it was a very nice place to grow up. I relish my years living on a smaller version of Hawaii. Guam is like only 150,000 people, but it was cool living, you know, always growing up in the Pacific and living on a tropical island. What did you like about living in Guam? I mean, did you play any sports? I mean, what kind of activities did you do? Well, you know, I mentioned it was nice to grow up on Guam. And I think that one of the best things was it's very small and well connected. And the schools there, at least the ones that I went to, I thought were very good. As far as sports goes, I did play sports, but was not in a team or a school team. It was football and volleyball. But my dad was very much a businessman and very much an entrepreneur. And he was like, studies first, studies first. And he played sports too. So he didn't want me to go into like doing nothing but sports, which is what he did. So he was like, books first, family business first. Sports is something that you played, but you weren't on the school team. So yes, I did, but not to the point where I was in varsity, anything. So what lessons did you learn in your youth that shaped you into the person that you are today? Well, a lot of the lessons that I've learned, I learned from my hardworking mom and my hardworking father. And the number one thing was we don't spend frivolously on anything. We lived in a very modest home. We always had used cars. I think we only bought one new car when I was growing up. We lived within our means because we had just lost everything in Vietnam and we were trying to rebuild our family. And so working hard, having that good work ethic, staying late and coming in to work early, doing more than what is expected of you. Those are things that were just the norm for our family. And once that gets ingrained in you, then it never leaves, you know what I mean? So I try to still have that kind of work ethic today. Great. Most people know you as the famous Cahe Chowen 2. Famous. Weather anchor. Very famous. Okay. But not a lot of people, maybe the newer generation, know that you were in radio and a great successful radio DJ. How did you get interested in radio? It's a funny story because I was in high school and I knew that I did not want to work in our family business, which was pest control. I'm a rat killer, bro. I'm a very good rat and bug killer. But I knew I didn't want to do that in high school. And so I picked up, you know, those phone books, those big old yellow page phone books and I started flipping through the phone book looking for companies that I wanted to work for. I found two. One was a scuba diving company and the other was my favorite radio station. So I call up that radio station in high school. I'm 17 years old. I call up the radio station and I talk to the program director and I get him on the phone and I said, hey, I want to be a DJ. I want to be just like the DJs I hear on your radio station. And he's like, you're in high school, you're not going to work here. We do not hire high school people. I was crushed. So I went to his competitor, another radio station. I called him up. I'm like, hey, I want to be a radio DJ. And the program director who lives on Kauai right now, he's not in radio anymore. His name is Jeff Alkins. He said, if you come in and you intern, then maybe I'll give you a shot in radio. So I came in, stayed lots of hours. Two weeks later, I'm on the air at midnight on a Saturday. While all my high school buddies were out at the beach partying, I was the radio DJ from midnight to 6 a.m. on Saturday morning. And that was in 1992 in August of 1992 and it became a 13-year career at that point. Right out of high school. In high school. In high school. You had an obvious passion for music and radio. What did you like about being a radio DJ? I liked, well, first off, you have to like the music, right? And at that time, the only way you could get music is through radio stations. And when somebody would break a song, that was significant. When you gave away a prize, people would call in and sit in the car and not go into work until you can win a prize. Nowadays, there's so many different sources for music that you don't really need the radio DJ to break that song. I like that feeling of saying, this is brand new music. You're going to hear it first and you're only going to hear it here. Are you ready? Here's the new jam. Boom. And you play that. And I really enjoyed being able to deliver that to people, which, again, it was the only source for new music. Nowadays, it's digital. It sounds like that was prehistoric times because of iTunes and everything there is now. But in addition to being a radio DJ, you were also a program director. In addition to being a DJ for the radio station. Tell me more about that. Yeah. Okay. So I was a weekend DJ and this has started on Guam and then I moved here and became also a weekend DJ, which led to a weekday slot afternoons and mornings and eventually program director. What a program director does is the program director is in charge of the entire radio station. Everything you hear from the staff to the jingles that you hear to when the commercials are played to how the songs are rotated and what songs are rotated. That's all the responsibility of a program director. And I believe at the time I was 25 years old and probably among the youngest active program directors in the nation. I remember going to conventions and all the other program directors were much older than myself and I was fortunate to have that opportunity at a very young age. And it was a lot of work, but I loved it. So it really didn't feel like work. I got to play DJ on the air and then I got to help develop other DJs and help them in their careers and it was a great few years back in the early 2000s. So what led to you moving from Guam to Hawaii? I mean, can you tell me more about what happened, you know, how you came from Guam to Hawaii? Okay. So I was working again as a radio DJ and I had pretty much the graveyard shift Monday through Friday though. And I felt I was in a rut. I felt like I can't get out of this shift and there were other people that were promoted to better shifts and I was kind of looked over and I felt kind of forgotten. And I'm like, I need to make a change. And with some encouragement from friends and family, I said I'm going to be moved to Hawaii and go to school in the UH system. Not expecting to actually stay. The plan was go to Hawaii, get some schooling and then maybe come back to Guam and work at another radio station or something like that. Well, you move to Hawaii and guess what? You fall in love with the place and you stay and 22 years later, here I am. And so I really came here not to be a radio DJ or go into media. I just came here to go to school and just, you know, it's kind of changed up my life. You know, there comes these times in your life where you just get stagnant and you really need to kick yourself in the okole sometimes and do something that is out of your comfort zone that is risky. And that's happened a few times in my life and one of the few times was moving to this beautiful state. And you became one of the most successful radio DJs in Hawaii on 93.1. Do you, what is your recollection of how we first met? Okay. So I had, you know, just seen you out and about, you know, here and there and passing. But I, you really got my attention when I was hosting a Pau Hana party at Kincaid's restaurant, which was formerly Horatio's. And I was doing 80's trivia. And I have a bank of trivia questions that I know that are not all that easy, but that I would ask during, you know, breaks with the band. So I'd ask, you know, what is the name of the lead singer of Durand Durand, right? And people normally wouldn't get it. But there was one particular audience member that got every single trivia question. And that is you. That'd be me. You, he cleared out my prize closet. I mean, all the prizes that I had for that, and I was t-shirts, mugs, keychains, CDs, all, you know, free food, Rusty would just clear it out. And that got my attention. I'm like, this guy is just as nuts about 80's music as I am. And so, is that your recollection? Exactly. I think if we were to be a team for a name the tune game, that I think we'd win every game. Yeah. So that's absolutely my same recollection of how we met. And then we became close friends ever since. And then you were offered an opportunity to be a weather anchor on KHON2. How did that come about? Well, again, it came a point in my radio career when I was doing the morning show. And for me personally, it was not challenging anymore. It was stable. My career was stable, but I wasn't getting challenged the way I wanted to get challenged. So just so happened that my current boss, my current boss, Lori, gave me a call and said, we have a position. And we think you might be interested in it. And I said, is it a reporter? Because if it's a reporter, I'm OK. I really, reporting is not something that I wanted to go into. And she said, it's weather anchor. And I said, well, I don't really know anything about weather. I read weather reports and radio. She said, don't worry. We'll train you. And I was like, oh, OK. Now this is something that is challenging and interesting to me, because I love science. And now I get to restart my career. And after a crash course in all types of meteorology and science, I've been with KHON going on 11 years now. That's absolutely amazing. So I know that you're very passionate about music, radio, weather. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back in 60 seconds. We'll be back with Justin Cruz. Again, this is Beyond the Lines with Rusty Kamori. Hi, everyone. I'm Andrea Gabrieli. The host for Young Talent's Making Way here in Fintech, Hawaii. We talk every Tuesday at 11 AM about things that matter to tech, matter to science, to the people of Hawaii with some extraordinary guests. The students of our schools who are participating in science fair. So Young Talent's Making Way every Tuesday at 11 AM only on Fintech, Hawaii. Mahalo. Do you want to be cool? If so, watch my show on Tuesdays at one called Out of the Comfort Zone. I sang this song to you because I think you either are cool or have the potential to be seriously cool. And I want you to come watch my show where I bring in experts who talk all about easy strategies to be healthier, happier, build better relationships and make your life a success. So come sit with the cool kids at Out of the Comfort Zone on Tuesdays at one. See you there. Hi, I'm Rusty Kamori. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines, Achieving and Sustaining Success. Today my guest is Justin Cruz from KHON Channel 2 News. Justin, let's follow up more about the transition from radio to television. How difficult of a transition was that for you? It was difficult internally. I hid a lot of the difficulty and nobody could see it. But even though I was a radio DJ for over a decade, that could not prepare me for being in front of a camera and wearing a suit. A lot of things are going on for weather anchors. Number one, you have to know your weather. Number two, you have to know the computer system that is displaying the graphics, the green screen, the chroma key behind you. You have to know about that software and create graphics. And number three, you've got to be comfortable in front of a virtual reality set, the green screen. So there's a lot going on. Oh, and you're walking around. And you're not reading the prompter. Everything is coming from the top of your head. So I would say, Rusty, it took me about a year to finally say to myself, and I sat down and finally said, okay, I could do this. Before that year, I questioned myself so many times. Why did you make this career move? Why did you leave your comfort zone? And why did you expose yourself to potential criticism? And I almost quit, quite honestly. I thought I had made the wrong decision. But after some time, I told myself, Rusty, I was like, okay, I think I could do this. I think I could do this. But it took a year, you know what I mean? Of getting used to wearing a suit and getting used to walking and talking and pointing and stuff like that. It's just not the most natural thing to work in front of a green screen to walk and talk. But when you get it, you're good. It clicks. It just took about a year for it to click for me. It definitely seems that risk promotes growth. And it's very impressive that you stuck with it and you're currently hugely successful and hundreds of thousands of people watch you practically on a daily basis. Tell us something about you that the viewers don't know about. Well, I could speak a little bit of Vietnamese. Really? Yeah. I could speak a little bit of Vietnamese. Can you say a phrase for us right now? Yeah. I guess, well, I'm not the best speaker, but a phrase. Thank you. Gam-ong. Can you say it? Gam-ong. Gam-ong. Gam-ong. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Gam-ong, Justin. Like, I don't know. I can't, like, super fluid, but I could say a few phrases. You know, I mentioned earlier that my family, we had a family business. We had a pest control company on Guam. And the entrepreneurial seed from my parents is firmly implanted in my soul. And so every time I look at people and even for myself, I always try and see, is there a way to make a business out of a product or a thought? Do you have any other businesses? I do. I do. I have a business on the side called Hike Spikes Hawaii. Now it's a wholesale company, and we distribute traction, attraction product to hikers, because as you know, when you go hiking here in Hawaii, it's very muddy, very slippery, so you just put these spikes on your shoes like, you know, snow tires, snow spikes in the mainland. This is the same concept. You put this contraption on your shoe, and you get grip, and you could go, you know, hopping across little streams and, you know, hike with confidence pretty much. I can attest to that because I own Hike Spikes, and wow, I mean, in terms of safety and enjoyment, I highly recommend everyone who hikes to wear Hike Spikes. Where can people get Hike Spikes at? You can get it at the Navy Exchange. You can get it at Ueda Shoe Store in Mo'ili-Ili University area. You can get it at McCulley Bike. You can also get it at the Manoa Falls mini-mart over there. And if you're in Hilo, you can get it at S. Tokunaga Store. And if you're in Kakaako, you can get it at Climb Aloha and Uloha Hiking Store. And it's fantastic, because so many people in Hawaii love to hike. Now, in terms of your development in TV, who has been your greatest mentor, and why is this person very important to you? Hands down, it's been Joe Moore. Joe Moore, part of the draw for me to come to KHON was to sit beside a news legend. And for me to have been doing that for 11 years now on multiple newscasts, the early newscasts and the late newscasts, and to watch Joe Moore in action, it's amazing. He is amazing. I've seen him do election coverage, hours of election coverage, with just the notes that he has on that desk. Granted, it takes a lot of professional people working together. But he is Hawaii's newsman. And to work right beside him, to call him a friend now, I've been on a few of his shows. He does shows on the side. And to just know him on a personal basis is something that I feel very privileged to have. Now, there are other people that I also highly look up to, Shep Smith, Fox News, I like his delivery. But locally, it's Joe Moore. Joe Moore is an absolute icon in the news industry in Hawaii for many years. And he's been inspiring so many current and past newscasters. KHON 2 News, the general manager, Christina Lockwood, she has established a culture of excellence of leadership in the KHON studios. Absolutely. What do you like about her leadership and what do you admire about her? She has a great way of inspiring people to do better. I mean, she's a great coach. She's a great mentor. She's a great friend. So when you work under somebody that just wants you to give your absolute highest potential for that reward, that's what she does. She inspires people and gets the best out of them. And it's very positive. I appreciate that. I've worked with general managers, not in TV or just in radio, but just in general, who are pound, pound, pound, pound dictators. That doesn't really inspire anybody to do good. That just really upsets them. So I like her leadership style and I like what she's done at KHON 2. We've transitioned from analog to, I'm sorry, into HD. We've got a new set. We've rebranded the news. And that was all under her leadership. So she's done a fantastic job. That's great. Yeah. I want to ask you, Justin, what's been the biggest adversity that you've dealt with in your life so far? That's a great question. And actually, I've been thinking about this question just when I had my own thoughts. And you know, I look at it like, OK, let's just call them lows. I categorize that into two sections. Things that have happened to me and things that I have caused on myself. Adversity, there's a lot. We don't have enough time for this show. Excuse me. Things that I wish if I could turn back time and redo are maybe, you know, I was a Boy Scout for many, many years and I almost became an Eagle Scout. But I didn't. I had a few merit badges away from becoming an Eagle Scout. Why didn't I? Because I turned 16, got a car, and instead of driving to the Boy Scout meetings, I'd go hang out with my friends and time passes. I never got the Eagle Scout. So I wish I would have done that. I've also been in a situation at least twice in my life where I've been fired for stupid things, you know. And those times, I was younger. I was barely, at both those situations, I wasn't even 21. I was just a young kid. And I wish I would have, I would have, I can turn back time and been smart enough, but they taught me valuable lessons. So to answer that question, adversity, there's been a lot. But they all kind of shaped me and helped me be a more responsible person today. So I wouldn't take it back. I just wish I wouldn't have been so young and, you know, thoughtless when I was a kid. Share with me, what are some of your most memorable life experiences so far? Oh, man. Hands down. I went up in a jet with the Blue Angels. That was a blessing, and I'm really, I really feel very, very blessed. It's the perfect word. I mean, I went up with the Blue Angels a few years ago and I asked the pilot, don't be easy on me. And he, we pulled like seven, eight Gs. I didn't, I didn't puke. I didn't get dizzy. I didn't black out. And that was, that was among my life's experiences. I've also been able to meet a lot of celebrities in this work, from singers to actors. And I've been able to report on significant events, like the Eddie surfed me right at the beach where a lot of people are not, you know, have access to. So there's been some, some really cool things that I've done. And again, I, I using the blessed word because I really feel that that's, that's what best describes this opportunity. Well, you know, you have a pretty big bucket list, I assume, because you've flown with the Blue Angels now. You've jumped off the stratosphere in, in Las Vegas. Do you have any other things on your bucket list? Oh, well, I think it would be now more travel because I mean, how can you beat growing up with the Blue Angels? I mean, you know, I can't think of anything except that I maybe would like to do a little bit more traveling from here on out. Countries I haven't been to, China, India, I haven't even been to Japan. Traveled Europe and US, but maybe it's time to start venturing out. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Now you, you're extremely successful. You're sustaining success in your career. What advice would you have for some of our viewers? All right. This is advice that my father told me and has resonated with me and stuck with me up till this day. No matter what you do, no matter what career path you go into, no matter what job you have, you have to be among the best at it. You can't be mediocre and you can't be definitely below the grade. So if you're going to be a teacher, be the best teacher that you possibly can. If you're going to be a weather anchor, be the best strive to be the best. And then you'll be passionate about your job and your life and everything else will fall into place. So regardless of what you do, just be the best at it and be known for the best. Great advice. Well, what's in the future for Justin Cruz? I don't know. That's a good question. I am still challenged at work. I think that I will probably stay if KHON2 would like me to. I would definitely like to stay with the company. And I think being in media is definitely something I want to stay with in this far as a career field. I hope you do stay. And I know that so many viewers will want you to stay. Well, thank you. And thank you for being my guest today. Absolutely. Congratulations on the new show. Yeah. I want to thank you all for joining us on Beyond the Lines today. I'm Rusty Komori. We film every Monday at 10 a.m. from the Pioneer Plaza in the Think Tech, Hawaii Studios, Aloha.