John Quiñones

Juan Manuel "John" Quiñones was born in San Antonio, Texas on May 23, 1952.[2] He is a fifth-generation San Antonian[3] and a fifth-generation Mexican-American. Quiñones grew up in a Spanish-speaking household and did not learn English until he started school at age 6. When he was 13 years old, his father was laid off from his job as a janitor and John's family, including sisters Irma and Rosemary, joined a caravan of migrant farmworkers and journeyed to Traverse City, Michigan to harvest cherries. Later that summer, the Quiñones family followed the migrant route to pick tomatoes outside of Toledo, Ohio. Quiñones recalls the words from his father, Bruno Quiñones, early one morning in Ohio's tomato fields. "Juanito, do you want to do this for the rest of your life? Or, do you want to get a college education?". Determined to overcome the current Latin American stereotypes of being uneducated, he decided to attend college. While attending Brackenridge High School in San Antonio, Quiñones was selected to take part in the federal anti-poverty program, Upward Bound, which prepared inner-city high school students for college. "Upward Bound saved my life," he says. John attended St. Mary's University, in San Antonio.[2] As an undergraduate, Quiñones was also a member of the Sigma Beta-Zeta of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. After graduating from St. Mary's with a bachelor's degree in Speech Communication, Quiñones earned his master's degree from Columbia University's School of Journalism.[1]

Quiñones served as a radio news editor at KTRH in Houston, Texas from 1975 to 1978[1] and also worked as an anchor and reporter for KPRC-TV.[1] He later reported for WBBM-TV in Chicago.[1] In 1982, Quiñones started as a general assignment correspondent with ABC News based in Miami.[1] He was a co-anchor of the ABC News program, Primetime and now hosts What Would You Do?. He also reports for all ABC News programs such as 20/20, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight and Nightline.

According to communications attorney Mark Lloyd, "Quiñones told the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) audience that he got his start because a San Antonio community organization threatened that if the stations didn't hire more Latinos, the group would go to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and challenge their licenses."[4]

• George Foster Peabody Award, 1999, ABC News, New York, New York, "ABC 2000" (also known as ABC 2000 Today.)[1]
• ALMA Award from the National Council of La Raza.[1]
• CINE award for his report on suicide bombers in Israel.[1]
• Gabriel Award.[1]
• 7-time Emmy Award winner.[1]
• World Hunger Media Award and a Citation from the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.[1]
• Pigasus Award, 2005, ABC's Primetime Live, for its credulous "John of God " special, about Brazilian "psychic surgeon" João Teixeira[5]

• John Quiñones (2009). Heroes Among Us: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Choices. Harper. ISBN 978-0-06-173360-4.
• John Quiñones (2015). What Would You Do?: Words of Wisdom About Doing the Right Thing. Kingswell. ISBN 978-1484726204.

Quiñones was the subject of a TikTok meme in 2019.[6]

• John Quiñones
• Article "ABC's Primetime Star"
• Quiñones Biography
• John Quiñones on Twitter