J.J. González is best known for his trailblazing career as the first Puerto Rican male and the first Afro-Boricua to grace television screens as a New York local TV news reporter. During his 28-year tenure at WCBS-TV Channel 2 News, he won several Emmy Awards from the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. In 2002, he was inducted into the Academy's “Silver Circle” society of honor in recognition of his significant contributions to the industry over his 25+ years on TV. He also won other awards, such as from the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association, including First Place as both a Reporter and as a Producer of “Doing It Right” for Best Local Documentary Program or Series. 

Before CBS sought him out, he had begun his career in print journalism, and he brought that wordsmith’s sensibility to his television reporting. As González has said, he hated to be in front of the camera because he preferred writing about the news, but nonetheless mastered the art of TV news. González found another outlet for his creative talent with his novel “A Gull Against the Wind,” which was published in 1977 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. It drew heavily on his childhood recollections of living on the Puerto Rican islands of Culebra and Culebrita. Years after going through the hell of dealing with the biases of some in the predominantly white news media, his ultimate success on air permanently opened the door for other Boricuas in television news, González left CBS to become Press Secretary for then Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, a position he held for two years, and later headed the press team for Ferrer’s campaign to become the first Puerto Rican mayor of New York City. 

González also initially worked as a consultant and then served as News Director for the local cable TV station BronxNet Community Programming Corp. and in the process helped teach a new generation the ropes of TV news. 

Throughout his career, González’s work has been noted for his focus on the human side of news stories, particularly within the Hispanic community. “If you see a fire, a fire isn’t just a fire. It isn’t just about people losing a home or a sofa. They’ve also lost the pictures of their grandmother,” González said in an interview with Don Kaplan of the New York Post in August of 2000. His career is full of great stories and memorable moments such as his on-island reporting with a focus on the human suffering in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in September 1989 or how he often was called upon by members of New York’s Young Lords when they were in danger – if the media as represented by González was in view, the Young Lords knew they would not be attacked. Episodes like this are documented in Felipe Luciano’s memoir “Flesh & Spirit: Confessions of a Young Lord” and his WBAI Radio program conversation with González in Fall of 2024. Always a feisty character, González, is no less feisty now as a nonagenarian who continues to be intellectually curious and engaged with what is going on in the world and having opinions about it.

“Holy Mackarel! I’ve been retired for over 25 years, so it’s a pleasant shock to be remembered! I’m proud to be named a “trailblazer," as a Boricua who opened doors for others to follow me in the news media industry.”