Luciana Boglioli
07/25/2021 18:30
Clarín.com
Fame
Updated 07/25/2021 18:30
He is the most desired driver,
the king of loose passes
.
On his cell phone, he still has hundreds and hundreds of unread messages from his fans.
Some, even with proposals and hot photos.
It is that
Franco Mercuriali
(47) lives his best moment in charge of
TN at night
(TN, Monday to Friday at 23) and with his new radio program,
Good morning Berlin
(Radio Berlin, FM 107.9, Monday to Friday at 7 ), where pure and simple information contrasts with fun and music.
The interview is on the sixth floor of TN, in a large glass-walled office from where you can see the entire channel.
Barely an hour and a half from going on the air,
the star presenter opens the doors of his privacy
in a talk alone with
Clarín
: his beginnings, what a day in his life is like and the love letters from his fan club.
Mercuriali was born on February 21, 1974 and according to her account she had
"a beautiful childhood, with a lot of sport
.
"
He went to the Manuel Belgrano School, in the Belgrano neighborhood, and he proudly says that he has
two "wonderful" brothers.
"It took me a lot to get into the world of work," Franco Mercuriali said about his beginnings.
It was always clear to him that communicating was his leitmotif.
He did a degree in Social Communication at the UBA and at the same time, he began Speech at the ISER.
“At 26 I finished both degrees and started working.
It took me a lot to enter the world of work
”, confesses Franco, who took his first professional steps on the radio.
“I started on FM Sol and later on Radio Palermo from 6 to 10. We covered the 99 elections and it was a great learning experience because we did everything ourselves, we did
n't earn money
.
It was a 6-10 AM news program.
I loved doing it.
I always liked doing the journalistic morning,
”he says.
At the time,
television was still a pending account
.
Then, in 2004, he made his debut on the P + E channel in a weekly program where he interviewed political economists.
“And a few months later
they called me to do a field program
at El Nueve.
It was at 6 in the morning ”, he says.
Franco Mercuriali conducts "TN de Noche" with his serious and fresh style at the same time.
Photo: Press.
It was prepared by doing a postgraduate degree in Agribusiness at the University of San Andrés.
And soon after, in 2007, he made his great arrival in TN in
charge of conducting
TN Campo
.
“I started in September and in January I started to host the Saturday news.
Later,
in 2009, he did the news from Monday to Friday at 2:00 pm
”, he details.
Franco Mercuriali in his early days on the radio.
Instagram photo.
Parallel to his
ascending journalistic career, Mercuriali was living an excellent personal moment
since, at the age of 30, he had married the announcer Micaela Grinza and his first son, Pedro, who is 16 years old today, had been born.
And some time later, 12-year-old Romeo was born.
“Our romance began in the halls of Radio Palermo
.
We made a good team, ”she confesses about the routine they maintain between work and raising children.
Franco with his wife Micaela Grinza and their two children Pedro and Romeo.
Instagram photo.
First morning lover,
moving overnight in TN was not easy for her
.
"How am I going to do at night, if I like the morning?" He asked himself when the proposal came to be in charge of
TN at night
.
"At 6 months I got used to it and it seems like a wonderful schedule.
I love the night.
I've been here for 6 years and hopefully I can stay a lot longer at this schedule," he explains.
From the nocturnal universe, Franco highlights the loyalty of the audience.
“At night, if they choose to see you, it is because they really want to listen to you.
The TV is not on for being there
”.
"People arrive informed at that time, so
we turn the news over to be an analysis,
a look at what happened on the day," he explains.
His routine is marathon: he goes to bed at 3 in the morning and wakes up at 6:30 to go on the air on Radio Berlin.
But the announcer continues his romance with the first morning on Luis Majul's new station, Radio Berlin (FM 107.9).
There he has been conducting
Good Morning Berlin
since April, together with Noelia Ricci.
“The idea of the program is to tell the
news in a very good mood, with music from the nineties and 2000s
.
The goal is to unplug from the overload.
I count the main titles and we listen to a song by Sting, Eric Clapton, Alanis Morisette.
I really enjoy it, I love doing such an entertaining, relaxed program ”.
-How is the contrast between the two Franks: one who does the formal newscast at night and the other on the most relaxed radio program in the morning?
-I am more the one at 1 in the morning during the show, than the serious one on the news.
Many were surprised, but my family and friends who know me, no.
It was very natural.
In the pass I draw badly, sing, dance, have fun.
The spirit of the hour is that.
Franco and Noelia Ricci, his partner in "Good morning Berlin" (FM 107.9).
Photo Press.
His routine is marathon.
“I go to bed at 3 in the morning.
I wake up at 6:30.
From 7 to 10 I do the program on Radio Berlin.
From 10:30 to 12 I do sports.
A game of tennis, I walk or run.
Lunch with my children and my family
.
I take a good two-hour nap.
I get up.
I begin to prepare the newscast.
I have dinner at my house type 20.
And at 21 I go to the channel with the news ready,
"he says.
“I have always been dressed for the channel.
With the pandemic, the biggest change was that we came to work every day with concern.
It was hard.
We worked long hours and I never stopped coming during the quarantine.
We have many protocols in the channel
”, he details.
The group from The TN Pass.
Instagram photo.
“Only
when I caught the coronavirus, in November 2020, did I leave my home
.
Thank God he grabbed me lightly ”, he says.
Fan club and erotic messages: what it's like to be the '
sugar daddy
' on TV
Today, at the head of
TN de Noche
, which goes after political programs at different times, sometimes 11 or 11:30 p.m., until 1 in the morning, Mercuriali
surprises with
El pasa
with his colleagues from
Re Despiertos
, Guido Martínez , Eleonora Perez Caressi and Fernando Molinero. In those minutes, which are sometimes prolonged,
the driver participates in games, from jenga to hangman
, with his particular style.
And it was in one of those countries, that
they baptized him as
"sugar daddy"
(sweet father).
“One of the guys started
calling
me
sugar
for candy and then for
sugar daddy
.
They all laughed at each other and stayed,
people call me
sugar
and I love it
”.
And he clarifies that in his case, it is not the old concept of sugar daddy.
Franco is the male version of the MILF, that is,
the sexy family man that many women fantasize about
.
"They tell me with a lot of affection," he says.
"They send me hot photos and videos," said the host about his fans.
Photo: Press.
Even
Mirtha Legrand
, who went to his wedding in 2004 as they were partners on Radio La Red, complimented Franco and confessed that many acquaintances had asked him about him.
"Do I have to call you '
sugar daddy'
?
I saw that you have fans.
I can't explain to you the number of women who wrote to me
”, Franco says the diva told him.
- Doesn't your wife get jealous when they call you
sugar daddy
?
-Do not!
She accompanies me, she is very happy for the good time that I am living.
And he shows his cell phone.
On his Instagram account, he has hundreds and hundreds of messages from his fans that have not yet been read, which he will later reply one by one.
"
People give me a lot of love and affection."
Meanwhile,
his official fan club on Facebook, Fans of Franco Mercuriali, which accumulates more than 27 thousand followers and the account @fandefrancomercuriali
on Instagram, follow the minute by minute of his career and his private life.
They are super active accounts that publish photos and videos of the driver daily, with
thousands of “likes” and hundreds of comments.
One of the great pleasures of the driver: a good bike ride.
Instagram photo.
“They
send gifts to my house:
beer, wine, chocolates.
Is incredible.
I'm surprised ”, he acknowledges.
He has hundreds of unread messages on his cell phone.
"I show you," he proposes.
On his Instagram he receives compliments, suggestions and even risque proposals
.
-Do you receive hot messages?
-Many.
-What do they tell you?
-Oh, no ... they are very strong.
They have sent me photos, videos ... I do not answer or send a thank you face.
-Do you train, do you use creams? Do you diet? Are you pro cosmetic surgery? What do you enjoy in your free time?
-I do a lot of sports.
I walk and bike every day.
I don't diet but I eat healthy.
I'm not as neat a person as it seems (laughs).
Every day I eat a piece of chocolate.
I am zero cosmetic surgery.
I do use creams because I put on makeup every day for TV.
I don't dye my hair either.
I have my gray hair.
Outside of the profession, I enjoy eating a good barbecue, spending time with my family, going for a walk with my children and my dog Lola.
-What is the greatest satisfaction that journalism gives you?
-When people write to you saying that with what you said something changed.
These days many people wrote about the need for vaccines in those under 18. There are minors who are at risk, with diabetes or cystic fibrosis, for example, and since there are no vaccines for them, they cannot leave the house .
And the only vaccine approved for minors is Pfizer, so they were asking for it to come to the country at least for that group of people.
So we made several notes on the subject.
And if you make a change, you feel that you were useful.
Franco is a rock lover.
He plays bass and had the Imaginary Express band in his teens.
But
not everything is pure and simple information.
Also the fun that goes beyond the screen, is captured by viewers who appreciate your company.
“Many lost loved ones.
Grandmothers who do not see their grandchildren.
And
many write to me saying that the only smile of the day was watching
The
TN
pass
.
They tell me 'I smiled for you' ”, he maintains, moved.
-A few weeks ago you had a meeting with Ángela Lerena regarding the anniversary of Diego Maradona's goal of the century against England in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
- I said to the air that it seemed to me misplaced that the deputies stop the session to shout the goal of Maradona at 16:09 in the afternoon.
Neither can a surgeon who is operating.
The militant journalists cut the part where I say about the doctors and said that I got angry with the people who celebrated Maradona's goal.
And actually, I criticized the deputies, not the people.
See if I'm going to tell people what to do!
They appropriated Maradona and I am the "anti-Maradonian."
They told me it was bitter.
And I am a fan of Vélez, I love football, both playing it and going to the field.
I lived through the entire Maradona era.
When the champion came out I was 12 years old.
Mercuriali had a cross with Angela Lerena on the day the anniversary of Maradona's goal of the century was celebrated.
-Did it feel like a political move?
- I do not understand the militant journalist who attacks another journalist for what he thinks.
And in addition, it manipulates the information.
That only happened with Kirchnerism.
It's a dreadful thing.
Rock, tours and classes with Fito Páez's bassist: Franco's hidden side
He confesses that, if he had not been a journalist, he
would have loved to dedicate himself to music.
It is not an improvised, of course not.
He studied with Fito Páez's bassist, Guillermo Vadala
, and formed his band, with which
he toured several Argentine cities.
Imaginary Express
was one of them.
“It was my teenage band that I formed with my brother.
We did a lot of shows on the coast.
We did our own rock songs and covers ”.
Their influences?
The Police, Serú Giran, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Charly García, Fito Páez.
But with
the morning news and compelling information
, music remained a hobby.
Today, away from touring, the conductor feeds his passion when he has free time.
“I play bass, guitar and sing.
I don't rule out having a band again,
"he warns mischievously before entering the studio.
DD
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