Aníbal González Irizarry (February 25, 1927 – November 14, 2018) was a Puerto Rican
educator,
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
and news
broadcaster.
Early years
González Irizarry was born and raised in
Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico
Sabana Grande () is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located north of Lajas and Guánica; south of Maricao; east of San Germán; and west of Yauco. Sabana Grande is spread over seven barrios and Sabana Grande Pueblo (the downtown area a ...
, where he received his primary and secondary education. He completed 3 years of
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
at Sabana Grande High School before his family moved to
San Juan. There he attended the "Escuela Superior Central" (Central High School) of
Santurce. In 1942, when he was 15 years old, he began to work at "
WPRA
WPRA (990 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish Variety format. Licensed to Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, it serves the Puerto Rico area. The station is currently owned by Empresas Bechara through its licensee, WPRA, Inc.
During 1958, 15 ye ...
" a
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
station in
Mayaguez and soon became the station's main broadcaster.
Radio broadcaster
In 1950, González Irizarry moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
to work in a factory. Whilst there he found a position at the radio station "
WWRL
WWRL (1600 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York City. WWRL airs an all-news radio format as an affiliate of the Black Information Network (BIN). The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.
By day, WWRL broadcasts at 25,000 wat ...
" in a program called "La Voz Hispana del Aire" (The Hispanic Voice on the Air). In that program, he created a character which he called "Monje Loco" (Crazy Monk). In 1951, he joined the radio station "WENX" and was named Director of
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
Programs.
In 1953, González Irizarry joined the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
and after returning from the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
was honorably discharged. He then returned to New York and continued to work in the radio as a broadcaster. He enrolled and graduated from "The School of Radio and Television Techniques".
[Puerto Rico past and Present](_blank)
/ref>
News anchor
In 1956, González Irizarry returned to Puerto Rico and joined WKAQ, a Telemundo
Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...
affiliate as its radio program announcer. He continued his academic career and graduated with a Law Degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law
The University of Puerto Rico School of Law is a law school in Puerto Rico. It is one of the professional graduate schools of University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus and the only law school in the University of Puerto Rico System. It ...
. Telemundo first introduced ''Telenoticias'' (TV News) in 1954 and in 1977, ''Telenoticias en Accion'' in a new format with him as main anchor along with Ramon Enrique Torres, Bruni Vélez and Junior Abrams
Juan Ramón Abrams Jr, better known as Junior Abrams (born April 25, 1956 in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican television and radio sportscaster, actor and show host.
Biography
After years of radio broadcasting experience on WRAI AM with H ...
.
Later years and death
González Irizarry married Ruth Perez Perez and they had two children: Anibal Jr. and Lissette. In 1994 he retired as anchor of ''Telenoticias en Accion'' in Telemundo. Besides news broadcasting, González Irizarry taught Communications
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Santurce. He was the co-pastor of the Disciples of Christ Church in Ponce.
See also
* List of Puerto Ricans
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez Irizarry, Anibal
1927 births
2018 deaths
United States Army personnel of the Korean War
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) clergy
People from Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican journalists
Puerto Rican television personalities
Puerto Rican Disciples of Christ
Puerto Rican Army personnel
Television pioneers
United States Army soldiers
University of Puerto Rico alumni
Puerto Rican Christians
Puerto Rican lawyers
Puerto Rican news anchors
Universidad del Sagrado Corazón alumni