Categorized | Entertainment, People, TV & Radio

Don Francisco celebrates 50 years hosting “Sábado Gigante”

Posted on 07 October 2012. Tags: , , , ,

Don Francisco

Don Francisco hosting “Sábado Gigante” in Chile in the 1960’s. (Courtesy: Univision)

For the past 50 years, Mario Kreutzberger, better known to millions of fans around the world as Don Francisco, has been hosting “Sábado Gigante,” the longest running variety show in television history. The length of the show has even made it to the Guinness World Records.

Don Francisco created and started the show in his native Chile in August of 1962 on Canal 13… although it first aired on Sundays as “Show Dominical” before moving to Saturday nights a year later and changed its name to “Sábados Gigantes.”

An ad for Don Francisco’s first show in Chile.

 

When it premiered on Univision April 12, 1986, the title of the show was changed to the singular Sábado Gigante.”  At the time, the network was still SIN (Spanish International Network).  This year, it marks the show’s 26th anniversary in the U.S.

While in Chile the show was sometimes 8 hours long during the 1970s and 1980s, here in the U.S. it only airs on Saturdays from 8 to 11 pm.

Don Francisco and Laura Martinez

Don Francisco is interviewed by Laura Martinez at the Museum of the Moving Image.

 

Last Wednesday, October 3, the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, NY, celebrated his 50th anniversary as the host of Sábado Gigante” with a special event scheduled to coincide with Hispanic Heritage Month. More than 200 fans had the opportunity to see highlights of the show and to listen to Don Francisco answer questions about his life and career.

Univision has scheduled a special anniversary celebration episode to air on Saturday, October 27, 2012.

 

Sabado Gigante 50 anniversary logo

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- who has written 4587 posts on Media Moves.

I'm an Emmy award-winning journalist, who's worked as an on-air reporter in Spanish and English-language television news. I've worked for Univision, Telemundo, CNN en Español and Los Angeles Fox and UPN stations before diving into a convergence model at the San Jose Mercury News. I have also held management positions in the online digital sphere - first as Managing Editor of IntersectionsSouthLA.org, followed by a role as the West Coast Web editor for impreMedia. I was president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists from 2004 to 2006. I am also a freelance writer, reporter and producer. I founded Media Moves in June of 2007.

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One Response to “Don Francisco celebrates 50 years hosting “Sábado Gigante””

  1. Don Chin says:
    October 8, 2012 at 11:26 PM

    This guy needs to GO!

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I'm an Emmy award-winning journalist, who's worked as an on-air reporter in Spanish and English-language television news. I've worked for Univision, Telemundo, CNN en Español and Los Angeles Fox and UPN stations before diving into a convergence model at the San Jose Mercury News. I was president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists from 2004 to 2006, and inducted into the Hall of Fame in August of 2016. As an online news manager, I was West Coast Web Editor for impreMedia and Managing Editor of IntersectionsSouthLA.org. In addition to running Media Moves, which I founded in June of 2007, I'm a regular contributor to Forbes and also do freelance work as writer, reporter and producer.
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