''¡Despierta América!'' (, ''Wake Up America!'') is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the ...

morning television show airing on

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and include ...

. Debuting on April 14, 1997, the program's primarily targets the Hispanic population in the United States. It is broadcast from the network's studios in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, and is hosted by

Raúl González Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...

, Jessica Rodríguez, Jomari Goyso,

Karla Martínez Karla Martínez (born May 11, 1976Martínez shines on Univision's morning show ...

, Carlos Calderon,

Alan Tacher Alan Tacher Feingold (born March 28, 1971)is a Mexican television host who is part of the main cast of Univision's morning show ''Despierta América''. He is the older brother of actor and television host Mark Tacher. Television *''Califa de Oro ...

Francisca Lachapel Francisca Antonia Méndez Zampogna (née Méndez Montero; born 5 May 1989 in Azua de Compostela) is a Dominican-American actress, TV host, and beauty pageant titleholder, who was crowned Nuestra Belleza Latina 2015 on 12 April 2015. She is cur ...

, Ana María Canseco, and Satcha Pretto. Other reporters or celebrities also provide entertainment and gossip segments, and will occasionally appear as guest hosts if one of the regular hosts is unavailable (for instance, actress Galilea Montijo has appeared frequently during the show's run). The show also features contributors that cover a variety of topics such as immigration, technology, diet, exercise and personal motivation. Among the permanent and occasional contributors of the show are Dr. Mario Lovo (immigration), Ariel Coro (technology expert), Claudia Molina (exercise), Adriana Martin (fitness and lifestyle), Alejandro Chabán (weight loss), Ismael Cala, María Marín, Alberto Sardiñas (motivation), Laura Posada (lifestyle) among many others. The program airs weekdays from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m.

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small ...

and Pacific Time/10:00 am

Central Time Central Time may refer to: * Central Time Zone, a time zone in North America * Central European Time, a time zone in Europe *Australian Central Time, a time zone in Australia (see Time in Australia Australia uses three main time zones: Austra ...

, with :25 mark every hour for local news and weather headlines update; as Univision holds complete responsibility for its affiliates' programming, the network does not tape delay ''¡Despierta América!'' individually by U.S. time zone (only running a delayed broadcast for the network's Pacific Time feed). Although similar in format to English language competitors ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

'', ''

CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...

'', and ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'', ''¡Despierta América!'' maintains more of a focus on interviews, and entertainment and feature stories; news headlines are generally limited to a segment that airs each half-hour, and national weather segments only appear once an hour during the first three hours of the broadcast (compared to the half-hourly weather updates that appear on other national morning news programs).

History

On April 14, 1997, Univision launched ''Despierta América'' as a Spanish language competitor to

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''

'', ABC's ''

'' and ''

''. ''Despierta América'' is known for coining the catch phrase, "échate pa' acá" ("Come here"), which is a segment regarding news and gossip about Latin entertainers. This was later carried over to another show '' Un Nuevo Día'' on

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 ...

in 2013. ''Despierta América'' has since developed its own brand and style of reporting news of various genres, such as immigration, sports, consumer, health, lifestyle, fashion, beauty and entertainment content. With a staff of approximately 30 (made up of writers, editors, producers, and support staff based out of Miami)and additional bureaus across the country and in Mexico, ''Despierta América'' wakes up America each weekday morning with four full hours of news and entertainment. While Jackie Guerrido initially provided national weather updates during each broadcast, after she left the show full-time often one or another of the hosts would do the segments (most notably Raúl, who would do various

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American hip hop, ...

-styled musical updates for some time). Ximena Cordoba has become an asset to the show in taking over the role of weather reporter and health & beauty contributor. On February 17, 2017, the show celebrated its 20th anniversary with a special five hour edition, with former hosts coming back for a reunion. On September 13, 2021, Noticias Univision and

announced the co-hosts for a new Sunday edition of the morning show, starting at 8:00 AM Eastern and Pacific Time/7:00 AM Central, with :25 mark for local news and weather headlines. They would be

, Maria Antonieta Collins, Jackie Guerrido, and Carolina Rosario.

Notable on-air staff

Current

Former

Giselle Blondet Alba Giselle Blondet Gomez (born January 9, 1964) is a Puerto Rican actress and TV host. She also founded the non-profit organization "Fundación Arte por La Paz". Early biography Giselle Blondet was born Alba Giselle Blondet, in 1964, to Victo ...

(1997–2005) *

Rafael José Dr. Rafael José Diaz (born April 22, 1955) is a Puerto Rican actor, singer and television host. Biography Early life Rafael was born in Manatí, Puerto Rico, where his father, a physician born in the Dominican Republic, was the medical ...

(1997–2010) *

Fernando Arau Fernando Arau (born November 3, 1953) is a Mexican comedian, actor, producer and director. He is best known for his TV roles, as Chicho in Televisa's hugely successful comedy " Cachun Cachun Ra Ra" (1981–1987) and Univision's daily morning sho ...

(1997–2009) * Jackie Guerrido (2003–2008) * Félix de Bedout (2011–2012) * Poncho de Anda (2010–2012) *

Chiquinquirá Delgado María Chiquinquirá Delgado Díaz (born August 17, 1972 in Maracaibo, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan TV host, model, and actress. She was a co-host of '' Mira Quien Baila'' on the Univision network in the United States. Prior to that, she was the ho ...

(2011–2012) *

Ximena Córdoba Ximena Córdoba Londoño is a Colombian model and actress. She hosts ''TNT Movie Club'' on TNT and ''Despierta America'' on Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It ...

(2013–2015) * Alejandro Chaban (2015–2016) *

Johnny Lozada Johnny Lozada Correa (born December 21, 1967 in Caguas, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican singer, actor, host, and television personality. Lozada was a member of Puerto Rican boy band Menudo during its golden years, joining the group in 1980 and ...

(2012–2016) * William Valdes (2014–2017) * Ana Patricia Gámez (2011-2019) * Maity Interiano (2016-2022)

Segments

Current

*''Sin Rollo'': Segment hosted by Carlos Calderon, Jomari Goyso, Marcela Sarmiento, and Paola Gutierrez. The hosts discuss controversial current issues. *''Revoltillo Digital'': Segment hosted by Jessica Rodriguez. She hosts news from the entertainers on social media. *Chef

Doreen Colondres Doreen Colondres is a Puerto Rican chef and food writer, who is the author of ''La Cocina No Muerde'' ''(The Kitchen Doesn't Bite).'' She is a sommelier, television presenter and specialist in Hispanic cuisine. Biography Born in Puerto Rico, ...

hosts cookery segments.

Other

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

coverage of issues affecting Hispanic Americans in and around New York City was covered by Jorge Viera in 2020 for ¡Despierta America!.

Pets

"Cosita" was a female dog that had a daily participation on Despierta America for 10 years. After her owner decided to retire her in order for her to become a mother, she was celebrated during her last show with a goodbye party. "Cosita" died in 2010, her death being announced on the show by news reporter Neida Sandoval.

References

External links

History

Notable on-air staff

Current

Former

Segments

Current

Other

Pets

See also

References

External links