Broadcaster says perseverance key to success

Don't take no for an answer.

That was the message of John Quiñones, broadcast journalist for ABC and host of "What Would You Do," who spoke Wednesday evening in the auditorium of McAllister Fine Arts Center.

"I want to remind everyone that anything is possible in this country if you never take no for an answer," he said in the main event of his visit sponsored by the Fine Arts and Cultural Events Series.

Quiñones is a former student of the radio-television-film program at this college and a graduate of St. Mary's University.

About 750 people attended, including high school journalism students and classes at this college.

He said he had the desire to become a journalist after watching broadcaster Geraldo Rivera during Quiñones' childhood

"I had that dream; I wanted it more than anything," he said. "Plus, I was real ‘chismoso,'" which means one who gossips.

Quiñones said that growing up on the West Side of San Antonio and as a teen becoming a migrant worker, he was constantly told that he would never have a future in broadcasting until one day he was picking tomatoes.

As he stared down the field, which he said looked endless to him, his father questioned him in Spanish, do you want this, or do you want to go to college?

"College was a no-brainer," he said.

Quiñones said he then returned to high school and joined the Upward Bound program, which helps in college preparation for low-income students or those whose parents did not graduate from college with a bachelor's degree.

They chose 10 students, "and for some reason, they saw something in me," he said.

From there, he graduated and attended this college.

"It was a vital link from where I was. I don't think I'd be where I am without the classes I took with Jean Longwith," he said, referring to the late professor emeritus from this college's RTF program for whom Longwith Radio, Television and Film Building was named.

His college career kicked off after he received an internship with KKYX radio at age 19.

He told students he hated country music, but that's where he got an internship at $2 per hour and it included feeding the horses out back.

There, he said, he practiced his English and pronunciation while a Spanish-speaking janitor named Pablo became his first critic and told him what he thought of the show.

Quiñones was always looking to find a job in broadcasting, but he said it was not simple.

"I'll show you 50 letters of rejection," he explained.

Those letters, he said, read that he was great at radio but would never make it in broadcasting.

It was only when he left Texas for New York and graduated from the Columbia University School of Journalism that he got a job in Chicago that allowed him to showcase his knowledge and passion for broadcasting.

"Being Mexican-American, I wanted to tell the story of being an immigrant, what it's like to leave your family," and to cross the river or desert for America.

He laughed as he told the audience that he "posed as a Mexican" and hired a "coyote," one who smuggles illegal immigrants into this country, for a story and found a job while posing as an illegal immigrant.

This story showed what immigrants were going through, he said.

With a fake birth certificate and Social Security number, he used hidden cameras to capture everything as he washed dishes at a restaurant, slept in a basement and was sometimes not paid for three weeks.

The owner of that restaurant seemed stunned when he was confronted by Quiñones as a journalist.

The restaurant was shut down, and the immigrants became legal, he said.

"It was that story that brought me to ABC Chicago," he said, and because of his bilingualism, he "got people to open up and tell the stories they wouldn't tell anyone else."

Quiñones spoke of another story he covered about children and families living in the sewers of Colombia, which earned his first report on "Primetime."

He was told that the military were trying to get rid of them and would drop lighted matches down the sewers after pouring gasoline to burn them to death.

One man, Jamie Jaramillo, cared for them and founded Los Niños de los Andes, Quiñones said.

After people saw the story Quiñones produced on the organization, $1 million was donated to help his foundation.

"That's the role of the journalist; those are the kinds of stories we want to do," he said.

Quiñones now has his own show called "What Would You Do?" which covers ethical situations with actors portraying the role of racists, abusers or otherwise violent people who catch the public's reaction.

"We all stereotype, but we're all wrong," he said.

The show is to return to television Dec. 18.