Pepe Navarro

Biography

Spanish TV presenter. Born in Palma del Río (Córdoba, Spain), he moved to Sabadell (Barcelona, Spain) as a child, where he studied with the Salesianos and later at the Jaime Balmes secondary school. He then decided to study journalism and attended the 'Facultad de Ciencias de la Información' in Barcelona. As a professional, Navarro began working with Radio Juventud de Barcelona, Radio Barcelona (SER), Radio Nacional, and in Madrid, COPE and the recently born Antena 3 Radio (1983). In 1984 he moved to TV, working on the program "La tarde" (TVE) and a little later moving to Miami (Florida, US) to work on a polemical TV program. In 1988 Pepe returned to Spain to present and direct the weekly program "Por fin viernes" on Canal Sur TV. In 1989-90 he directed the morning magazine "El día por delante" on TVE, and in 1992 the contest program "Juguemos al trivial", also on TVE. In September 1992 he started the morning magazine "Vivir, vivir, qué bonito" (Antena 3 TV), and later the morning magazine "Todo va bien" and the weekly night program "Estamos todos locos" (both also on Antena 3 TV), the latter breaking a record with more than a 30% share of viewers. In January 1995 he started presenting the contest program "El gran juego de la oca". In the summer of 1995, Navarro was hired by the Tele 5 channel to make the first late night magazine aired in Spain, Esta noche cruzamos el Mississippi (1995). This program was seen as a historical landmark in modern Spanish TV history. It soon became an audience leader and was considered by many to be a social phenomenon. In 1997 he started a new late night magazine program, this time on Antena 3 TV: "La sonrisa del pelícano". This program was again an audience leader, and other channels attempted to copy its format with similar programs aired at the same time. As time went on, "La sonrisa..." became more and more irreverent, even parodying influential people on the same TV channel, and in particular Pedro J. Ramírez, director of the daily newspaper 'El Mundo', whose influence caused the program to be suspended abruptly. In 1999-2000 Navarro was hired by the Vía Digital channel to start a new night magazine, "La vía Navarro", this time with an original avant- garde style. It was the first interactive TV program in the world. In November 2000 Antena 3 TV started to air the series "Papá", of which Pepe was writer, director and producer. His latest work has been presenting the third season of the TV program "Gran hermano" (TVE).