José Griñán Retires afer 30 years at Fox 26

By Aswad Walker

For the past 30 years, José Griñán has been more than a fixture on Fox 26 KRIV-TV, he’s become a Houston icon. However, most recently, Griñán has taken on a new title—retired.

Te Tampa-born Griñán, who takes pride in his Cuban roots, built a formidable media career before coming to Houston in 1993, working in El Paso, Miami, New York and Dallas with multiple outlets, CNN being one of them.

At Houston’s Fox 26, Griñán made a name for himself as the senior morning news anchor for the 6:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m. and 12 noon newscasts. But Griñán did as much work of air as on—actively serving the greater Houston community as a volunteer for the National Kidney Foundation, The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Special Olympics and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, among others.

But now that Griñán has reported on his last big story, and there have been many, he took a moment to speak with the Defender about his transition into retirement.

DEFENDER: How does it feel nowto be actuallyretired?

GRIÑÁN: Well, I’m still trying to fgure out what I’m going to do next with my life, because I know that there is a lot more to come. I just don’t know exactly what that is right now and what phase I’m going to have to go through in order to get to that particular point. But retirement, it’s a joy not having to wake up at 3:30 and 3:45 in the morning to make it to work and be on the air at 7a.m. I thought about destroying my alarm clock <laughs>. Because it had been part of my life for a very long time. And now I’m on my own time. It’s just that now I’m trying to fgure out what to do with the time.

DEFENDER: What big stories while in Houston stand out?

GRIÑÁN: One morning on the air, in my earpiece, someone was saying that there was a plane crash into a particular building in New York City. I happened to glance to the side and see a little bit of video, and I just started talking about the video. Te director followed me, and we eventually put on one of the frst hits on the Twin Towers in New York City. Tat was on 9/11.

DEFENDER: You’ve been a fxture in the Houston community, doingasmuchofcameraas you did on.Whyhas serving the Houston community been so important toyou?

GRIÑÁN: I think as a journalist, you have a responsibility to the community which you are working in because you’re serving that community. And, when folks asked me to emcee an event for them, I did not see any problem with doing that. I just think that in addition to getting the facts right [as a journalist], you do have a responsibility to the community. Because without the people you’re serving, you don’t have a job because they’re the ones who support you. Tey’re the ones who speak up for you. Tey’re the ones who will come to your aid if need be. In fact, they’re kind of family to a certain extent. People talk about community.

Community is not just your neighborhood. It’s not just your city. It’s not just your county. It’s all of the folks who are your viewers in my case. And that extended past Harris County, past Montgomery County, past Galveston County.

DEFENDER: Doyou have any adviceforup-and-coming journalists,especially journalists ofcolor?

GRIÑÁN: First of, I tell anyone who is thinking in terms of being a reporter or a journalist, know your history, know social studies. History is not something that just happened in the past. Something today happens because something in the past happened. And if you can relate those two things, you have part of your story already written. Know your community. Know your city ofcials. Know your county ofcials. Know what they’re doing. Try and get as much knowledge as you can, but also be a part of the community that you’re serving or that’s serving you. Because without that support, you’re not gonna make it as a journalist.

Some call us pioneers. Others call us surgeons. Nurses. Paramedics.

Saving lives in the middle of the night at a nationally renowned trauma center.

Delivering at-risk babies against all odds, from all across the county.

Year after year, training the majority of the doctors who practice in the most famous medical center in the world.

And, day after day, providing essential care and vital resources to those who need it most in every one of our communities.

You might not know our name. And that’s okay.

YOU’LL KNOW US BY THE WORK WE DO.