Ensures that as long as there is good content, television will be queen and content the king … That what will be seen from next Sunday, 19 September at 8/7 AM Central on Univision , It is made with a lot of love, work, enthusiasm, and that feels to each of the viewers, because she was one of the immigrants who grew up watching the ‘happiest house on Hispanic television’ …
She is Luz María Doria , the executive vice president of ‘Despierta América’ , the show that he inherited when he already had 14 years being the leading program of the mornings of Hispanic television, and in these 10 years that he has led the team not he only sustained the success, but took it to another level … And now he launches a new adventure: the son of weekly success, ‘Despierta América en Domingo’, where he assures that the protagonists nists are the stories .
Lover of challenges and challenges, Luzma, as everyone calls him, launches ‘Wake up America on Sundays’, hosted by María Antonieta Collins, Jackie Guerrido, Raúl González and in the news Carolina Rosario .
From 19 September at 8/7 AM Central , the author of ‘The Woman of My Dreams’, ‘My Stellar Moment’ and ‘The Art of Not Staying With You’, will search that for two hours the family is inspired by stories that leave them hope, empower them, restore their faith, have fun, become informed, and they become makers of great headlines.
“ We are the friends who take care of entering someone’s house to pamper him, hug him, entertain him, give him hope “, says Luz María Doria, in an interview without waste .
– ¿New adventure for ´Despierta América´?
Luz María Doria: New adventure, I am very excited, we are all very excited about this adventure . We had already done a test last year on Sundays talking about COVID, and it went very well, but nothing happened … When Luis Silberwasser, president of the chain, came in and proposed it to me, I said: “Come on, let’s do it ”.
I did not build something like that many years ago, because I inherited ´Despierta América´, and then, create a child of ´Despierta´ , and being with this great group of talents who are: María Antonieta Collins, Raúl Gonzáles, Jackie Guerrido and Carolina Rosario, I am very excited … I had worked with Raúl and María Antonieta, but not with Jackie and Carolina, they are new challenges for me as a producer, it is a program that I am sure will stay in the heart of the family, it is to see as a family, in bed, in your bed, with the people who Do you want …
– What will this show have?
Luz María Doria: The stories are going to make the protagonists , it makes me much illusion as per iodist to see it, and as a mother, wife and daughter, it is a wonderful opportunity for the family to get together, early, at 8 in the morning, and comment on these stories that are going to have much longer than the regular ´Despierta América´, and I know they are going to make big headlines.
– Although you let yourself flow, you organize everything in a very precise way.Why do you choose these 4 drivers?
Luz María Doria: I am definitely very intuitive, and when we talk about the content we wanted to have In the show, I think we couldn’t have a better quartet than this one, why ?: Marie Antoinette is the queen of reporters, she knows how to tell a story , surrounds you, is a Storyteller.
Raúl González dreams of telling good stories , and I think ´Despierta América´, from Monday to Friday, has been their best school, nobody better than Raúl knows the DNA of our program , It started there I think ue 20 years ago.
Carolina Rosario, I admire her very much, she will be in charge of the news because she is a young reporter, who looks for stories and knows how to react.
Jackie Guerrido has always caught my attention because of that passion she has for our audience , if there is someone who looks like our audience it is Jackie Guerrido, well even if all the grandmothers want to be like her, I want to be a grandmother like Jackie (laughs)… She is the girl from the Bronx, she knows her land, she gets emotional when she tells the history of Hispanics in the United States, a long time ago good interviews too, and I think it’s also a great opportunity for them to grow as reporters and storytellers.
– What is it like to give birth to a successful child?
Luz María Doria: It is giving birth to him with the desire to continue serving, it is the first thing … I believe that the success of the almost 25 years of ´Despierta América´, is that it has served the community Hispanic community , so I would like this ´Despierta América en Domingo´ to continue fulfilling that mission of serving. It is a great challenge because he is a child of success, but we do not want him to be equal to the success of the father, we want him to have his own success, and that, like babies, have his own personality .
That everything is different, and in fact I have a great team that has nothing to do with the team that I have from Monday to Friday, and I love it because today I was talking to Yvanna Jijena, who is going to be the general producer of this project, and you could see how excited she is . I am giving birth to someone who may be doing it for the first time, and I am very excited to do it with her, I believe that in every beginning there is always a little fear , I will not deny you , then that fear makes the responsibility greater. This son of success why not, surpass the teacher, the dad.
– How did you feel, on a professional and personal level, when they told you that they have to win the show on Sundays?
Luz María Doria: The first thing I thought was that I’m going to sleep one day less (laughs), that is very clear to me, but I love challenges and I love ´Despierta so much América´ , and I know that it is a program that reaches the hearts of the public, it is the number one program for Hispanics in the morning, chosen by Hispanics. It has been 24 years being number one , I am very excited to train part of this new challenge. Maybe another thing I thought was: “Oops, that’s where Saturday comes.”
– One of the questions they asked me in social networks is, are we going to have Raúl González from Monday to Friday or will we lose him?
Luz María Doria: Raúl González continues from Monday to Friday , do not doubt that, perhaps there will be some day that he will not be here, because Raúl González needs to rest, but we have not yet spoken. I love working with people who give themselves to 500%, and Raúl González has not told me: “I’m going to rest”.
– What is it like to be the head of a group and a successful show during 24 years or those who touched you?
Luz María Doria: First of all, the gratitude is immense, it touched me 10 years, I inherited a number one program, I did not make it number one … Thank God we have been able to keep it number one … It is a program that is part of my life as an immigrant, and so I always think that we, the group that does it, seems a lot to the audience.
I think the program in 25 years, which he will meet, had his greatest challenge during the pandemic . Nobody imagined that one day we were all going to leave from home, nobody taught us them at the university, nor was it planned, nor did we know how to do it, and it happens twice now … That makes every day lose fear a little more , and understand that on live television anything can happen, and that makes the job much more exciting …
The solo fact of thinking that we are serving so many millions of people in the morning, perhaps alone in their homes, they get up and that we are only friends … I always tell my colleagues to imagine that they are the friends that are They are in charge of entering someone’s house to pamper him, hug him, entertain him .
I woke up one day being the executive producer, it is a job that I did not look for, And perhaps it is where I have been most happy professionally, I live very grateful for the work I have, it is a great group, they always have their batteries on, they do not care about schedules. I have been working in television 20 years, and I have worked with many talents and I always say that those of ´Despierta América´ are full stop, they are people who leave their ego out, who are truly committed to their audience , who believe in the philosophy of the program, and that makes everyone, absolutely Everyone, from the one who moves a chair, to the director who makes everything happen, we feel that we are enriching our lives, and we are helping to enrich the lives of those who see us.
– What was the Luzma of ten years ago when she got the gift of ´Despierta América´ and the one of today?
Luz María Doria: Today’s, and maybe she will see who opposes this comment, Today is much calmer than it was 10 years ago , today I make decisions faster than I did 10 years ago, the fact of producing a program and n alive, 4 hours a day, if you start to see they are 20, and they will be 22 a week, that’s a great school for life, it makes you make decisions in a faster way. It is a Luzma that values the service of good information much more , I do 10 years I worked in entertainment programs, they were not news, so my dad always wanted me to be a serious journalist and I did it just ago 10 years.
– How do they not falling into saying: ‘we are successful, so we don’t have to worry’?
Luz María Doria: I say that we are successful and I say it quickly, because success on television is ephemeral , it is rating today, and I never believe it … And I say it quickly so that my team is happy and knows that there is a reward for all the effort, but I am aware that all of us who get up in the morning to inform we are fighting for the rating . That the rating has become more friends with ‘Despierta’ obviously makes me very happy, it makes me much more grateful, but it makes me much more responsible and more creative, it makes me try harder, it is a constant desire to improve ourselves to ourselves, not to repeat ourselves, to invent new segments , to be very aware of what the audience wants.
– If you could get into in the viewer’s house, literally, what would you like to tell them that they cannot miss?
Luz María Doria: That they are aware of the inspiring stories that we are going to have, perhaps a phrase from that story will change a life, it will improve it . I’m going to give you a preview, there is a segment that I love that was called a, ´The best advice they have given me´ … They are recognized people who tell you, what has been the best advice and why has it served them?… It is something I wanted I have done for a long time, and I did it right now.
Success is composed of a series of formulas than when you share those formulas, because you make that chain much broader . In addition to the stories, because you are going to know different ways of living than yours, but they will be of great use to you, I want you to see it as a family, that think that what you are seeing this Sunday morning, It is done with a lot of love, with a lot of effort , and with the desire that it becomes a headline, and that many people talk about it so that the mission is accomplished.
– In an age where television fights with great monsters such as platforms, social networks, you continue to bet on television, what do you think as a woman who grew up with television?
Luz María Doria: I believe that as long as there is good content, television will be queen, content is king , and that content is our responsibility, the producers, to create it in a way that adapts to new generations. The good thing about life is that the forms change, but not the funds, my daughter has 25 years old, I am 56, and we both want to be successful , maybe different ways and we see it differently, but the end is always the same.
I compare it to the television, the mission will always be the same even if the format changes, and we have verified it, I believe that Univision is the best example, because it is the number one channel in Spanish in the United States, it is that when there is good content the viewer knows where to smash.
– What do you say to the public that as of Sunday 19 in September you have the opportunity of this new window of ´Despierta América en Domingo ‘?
Luz María Doria: I am going to tell you a phrase that I did not understand until ago 10 years: “God helps those who get up early” … You better join us Sundays earlier, and be part of it, and write to us and tell us what you want to see in ´Despierta América en Domingo´, and we will please you.
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO INTERVIEW: