Maria Teresa Campos

María Teresa Campos Luque (Tetouan, Spanish protectorate of Morocco, June 18, 1941-Madrid, September 5, 2023) was a Spanish journalist, radio host and television presenter, specialized in talk shows and magazines of an informative and dissemination nature, with extensive experience in audiovisual media.

When he was one year old, his family settled in Malaga. He studied Philosophy and Letters at the University of Malaga. She has been professionally dedicated to radio since her youth, a medium in which she has an award-winning and extensive career. In the 1980s she moved to Madrid and joined television, where she achieved great success and popularity.. For sixteen years (1990-2006) she directed and presented a daily magazine program on the main Spanish networks, first in the afternoons and since 1993 in the morning slot, being known by the nickname "the >queen of the mornings». After a period of rest, he returned to the small screen to present for eight years (2009-2017) the program What a happy time!, on Telecinco, which aired on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Sunday, then becoming known by the nickname of the «queen of the weekends». With more than 50 years of experience, she had her own program on radio for 26 years and on television for 25 years, which made her one of the most powerful and influential journalists in the history of communication in Spain. She was awarded two Ondas awards.

Biography

Radio

Beginnings in Malaga

María Teresa Campos Luque was the third of six siblings and came into the world in a wealthy family. Her maternal grandfather, Juan Luque Repullo, a native of Lucena, was one of the city's first important merchants. Her father, Tomás Campos Prieto, born in Puente Genil in 1907, ran a pharmaceutical laboratory. Her mother, Concepción Luque García (1912-2006), was a housewife and collaborated with her father in the laboratory. She grew up without luxuries but without the strictures of post-war Spain, in a traditional and Catholic environment in which, despite the conservative environment, politics was not present.

She studied in religious schools run by nuns, the most important and the one in which she spent the most years being that of the Teresianas, where she studied until Baccalaureate. Later he completed his university studies at the University of Malaga, where he graduated in Philosophy and Letters. After participating in a Radio Juventud de Málaga contest presented by her brother Paco, the director of the station noticed her voice and hired her to put it at the service of the most diverse radio tasks: she was the voice of the Dedicated albums so frequent at the time, from magazines with all kinds of sections (for example, Panorama), which prepared her for any type of work in the medium, including advertising.; she and even she plays small local theatrical roles with one of the companions with whom she will form a famous couple on Malaga radio, Diego Gómez. These are years of great popularity there for Mari Tere Campos, which is how she will be known in her hometown for decades.

On September 12, 1964, she married the journalist José María Borrego Doblas in the cathedral of Málaga, a radio colleague since 1957, with whom she would have two daughters: Teresa Lourdes and Carmen Rosa. Both will work with María Teresa on her programs, the first as editor, presenter and collaborator and the second as editor and deputy director; In addition, they will develop their careers independently.

He had three grandchildren: José María and Carmen Rosa Almoguera Borrego (Carmen's children) and Alejandra Rubio Borrego (Terelu's daughter). At his death he had a month-old great-grandson, Marc, son of his grandson José María.

New air in Madrid

Unlike the established custom of the time, she refuses to reject her profession upon getting married to become an old-fashioned housewife. In 1968 he joined Radio Popular COPE in Malaga and began presenting the Español Pop space, in which he came into contact with numerous singers, songwriters and important figures from the world of Spanish music in the late 60s. He will be the one who organizes concerts in Malaga by combative singers of the time, such as Joan Manuel Serrat or Lluís Llach. She begins a path of struggle towards freedom in which María Teresa takes part with this and other programs, such as Mujeres 72 , in which she begins to talk about free women and feminism, which she will lead until 1980 on Radio Juventud. She will also be a relevant figure in her city of these new airs, although she will never be a member of any political party. However, he would suffer threats from extremist sectors of politics during the Spanish Transition and one of the most notable moments of his professional life in Malaga occurred in 1981, when he read the Manifesto against the coup d'état of 23-F ^{[citation required]}.

At that time, it was impossible to produce national information if not on RNE, but in the 70s she would do her first work in local information, combining it with more magazines and general information programs, in addition to being the master of ceremonies for multiple stars. of the world song that will perform on the stage of the Tivoli on the Costa del Sol.

With the arrival of Democracy, the so-called institutional stations previously controlled by the Movement, are unified and converted into one, called Radiocadena Española. Thus, in 1980, María Teresa was appointed director of Andalusian News at RCE. For this reason she will obtain the 1980 Ondas Award, her first major national recognition despite not having yet left her hometown. She will be awarded this award again in 2003 for & # 34; her work to dignify popular television & # 34;. Likewise, she will obtain a Golden Antenna in 1994 and a Golden TP for Best Magazine Presenter.

After this merit, Mari Tere begins to "become" in Maria Teresa. She arrived in Madrid in 1981, appointed director of RCE News. At that moment, she separates from her husband of seventeen years. Later, her ex-husband committed suicide in 1984, one of the hardest personal blows that the presenter would suffer. They were married for twenty years. She then shared her life with Félix Arechavaleta (1989-2003) and later with Felipe Maestro, José María Hijarrubia (2005-2007), Santiago García (2007-2008) and Gustavo Manilow (2008-2009). In the summer of 2014, her romantic relationship with the Argentine comedian Edmundo Arrocet was made public. This high-profile relationship lasted until the end of 2019. On December 28, 2019, the Telecinco program, Viva la vida y de voz de la hija de la Veteran journalist, Terelu Campos, made public a statement from María Teresa Campos in which she announced, while asking for respect, the breakup of the relationship with Edmundo.

Television

First works

Her first flirtations with television were as a collaborator of the program Esta noche (1981), presented by Carmen Maura and directed by Fernando García Tola. In 1984, María Teresa was proposed to present several programs. She was first thought of for the presentation of Telediario, a true professional devotion of the presenter, but she was finally chosen for the programs Estudio direct, along with Marisa Abad; The afternoon (she replaces Pepe Navarro and Nuria Gispert) and Session diary . She combines these jobs on television with the direction and presentation of the program Apueste por una on Radio Nacional de España. During this time she also tried her luck in the field of dubbing and advertising, without much success.

«Hermida Girl»

In 1986, morning television was launched, with José Antonio Martínez Soler as host. With Pilar Miró as the new general director, his success is resumed by the popular Jesús Hermida, who immediately wants to have María Teresa's presence in his new program In the morning . She becomes a "Hermida Girl" and will collaborate with various sections: Bet on one (a debate space that he has been doing on his radio programs for many years and that he will do on television for 14 years), in which he dialectically confronts Patricia Ballestero, her roles in the program's small soap operas, social gatherings, etc. It is a new and promising stage in which María Teresa learns many of the knowledge that she will later be able to apply to her long television career.

She only interrupted her successful collaboration with Hermida in 1989 to be deputy director of the radio program Hoy por hoy, on Cadena SER, which was presented and directed by journalist Iñaki Gabilondo. She returned to television in April in 1990 to replace Hermida himself, who left the after-dinner program A mi forma to take charge of the evening Telediario. Thus, María Teresa returns as director and presenter of the daily magazine and he does so with great success, surpassing the audience ratings of his teacher and predecessor.

The queen of the mornings

On September 17 of that same year, 1990, the program changed its name to be titled Esta es su casa and on October 21, 1991, Pasa la vida. With this same title, María Teresa will begin to be the queen of the mornings: since September 6, 1993, the program begins to be broadcast in the morning, thus returning to the origin of her presence on television. Until July 19, 1996, she will occupy this time slot with great success, becoming for some the champion of the "marujas" television and for others an all-terrain presenter. capable of carrying out all the jobs that arise, as demonstrated in his extensive career. It will forever be the label against which the presenter will fight to this day.

On successive occasions, TVE will try to take advantage of María Teresa's hook for other programs. On February 19, 1994, Perdóname premiered, a reality-show of testimonies of the time in the style of What you need is love, which did not work and was withdrawn shortly after. time, on March 19, 1994. Later, in the 1994-1995 season, between November 26, 1994 and June 17, 1995, he will present Tardes con Teresa on Saturdays, and In the 1995-1996 season, between January and June 1996, Pasa la vida afternoon edition, both projects were combined with Pasa la vida. She also collaborated for four years on TVE's Christmas Eve special, Telepasión (1991-1995).

Although her success on the public channel was notable, she always felt underutilized. Thus, in 1996 she signed for the private network Telecinco, with a multimillion-dollar contract of 500 million pesetas (3 million euros) per season (200 programs). María Teresa is going to leave RTVE to direct and present until June 25, 2004, the morning magazine Día a día, since September 16, 1996, a television newspaper with a multitude of sections where she will share set with his most intimate collaborators, from which numerous journalists and presenters will emerge who are making their careers today, as he already did in Pasa la vida and will make sections that will go down in history: the veteran Bet on a , the Monologues of the iron (heirs of those she had already done since the time of Hermida), the small theaters with her fictional husband and great personal friend, the actor Paco Valladares, the corrillo (talk-show composed of street people, celebrities and journalists) and since 1998 the acclaimed and successful Debate Table, in which María Teresa realizes one of her professional dreams that for years she tried to materialize: providing the morning television programming with a debate table would be with renowned journalists in which to comment on current events. She gets great recognition for it. With this program, she becomes a true media star, being included as one of the three most credible presenters in the country in a 2003 Gallup poll, only surpassed by Iñaki Gabilondo and Luis del Olmo.

With Día a día it obtains its greatest audience successes, which will range between 25% and 32% of screen share in its eight seasons. The CEO of Telecinco, Maurizio Carlotti, with whom he has a great friendship, will commission other projects: in 1998 he presents Cruce de Caminos on Saturdays, directed by Ramón Colom and between 2000 and 2001 directs the after-dinner program Good afternoon, presented by Nuria Roca. He thus returns to the time of his debut on television as the head of a program, but he does not achieve much success and is retired after a few months. In 2001, he will present the evening debate led by his daughter Carmen Borrego, entitled Tú dice . With both programs he competes directly with the program presented by his daughter Terelu Campos on Telemadrid, Con T de afternoon.

In 1998 he signed with COPE to take charge of the afternoons of said radio station, combining this work with the presentation of his morning program on Telecinco. Campos remained in the program precisely titled Cope's Afternoon, for two seasons, until 2000; But María Teresa's excessive workload makes her abandon the project. In addition, the presenter has presented numerous special galas (both on TVE and Telecinco) and has participated in cameos in various television series: Médico de familia, Periodistas, Paco's men, 7 lives,... and has collaborated in multiple conferences throughout the country.

After 1,548 broadcasts of Día a día, in July 2004 he signed for Antena 3, with a contract that binds him to the network until July 2007, for 6 million euros per season (1000 million pesetas). The new program, similar to the previous one, is titled Cada día and will first compete against its previous program, Día a día, with Carolina Ferre and since January 2005, with the previous "Queen of the Afternoons", Ana Rosa Quintana on Telecinco. María Teresa's magazine loses leadership after so many years in favor of Ana Rosa Quintana and in December 2005 it was withdrawn with an average audience of less than 20%. Her new space, Lo que inTeresa, of shorter duration, is a news and events magazine that continues to include its Discussion Table , but it was definitively canceled in April 2006.

After sixteen years directing and presenting a daily program on television, she decided to take a break and prepare new projects, although she remained linked to the network until the end of her contract in June 2007.

His last work for Antena 3 was a tribute program to the missing singer Rocío Jurado, who died in June 2006 and was a personal friend of María Teresa.

His return after the break

After more than a year in which she has practically not appeared in the media, in September 2007, María Teresa returned to the radio, replacing Julia Otero in the direction and presentation of the last segment of Protagonistas, the morning program of the Punto Radio station, created and hosted in its first slot by journalist Luis del Olmo. After spending less than a year at Punto Radio, Teresa Campos decided to break her contract with Punto Radio at the end of the season.

His return to television was again to Telecinco, where in 2007 he periodically presented a late-night interview program titled The Labyrinth of Memory, where reports about the life of a popular character supported by journalistic documents and newspaper archives and a subsequent discussion is held with experts and personalities related to the character.

In September 2008 until mid-2009, Teresa Campos directed and presented the morning news program La Mirada Critica, with a long-term armored contract that unites her to Telecinco.

Starting in the fall of 2009, every Saturday it began to present a series of monographic programs dedicated to deceased figures on the Spanish scene, such as the bullfighter Paquirri (September 26 and October 3, 2009), the singer Rocío Dúrcal (October 10, 2009) or Lola Flores y El Pescaílla (November 7, 2009), Nino Bravo (November 28, 2009), Rocío Jurado (December 19, 2009).

Starting in March 2010, this series of specials acquired the format of a permanent program with the name What a happy time! on Telecinco, and given the good results obtained, in November In 2010, the program also began to be broadcast on Sunday afternoons, improving the channel's average in that time slot by 5 points, remaining this way until 2017, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., with the central theme being monographic or special. about someone famous in Spain (singer, actor...).

As of October 14, 2010, María Teresa collaborates once a week in Sálvame as "defender of the viewer or audience&# 34;, a position she would hold until 2017. Furthermore, during the spring of 2011 she combined both spaces with the presentation, together with Rocío Carrasco, of the musical contest Nacida para cantar, broadcast by Canal Sur and in which We are looking for an artist who combines the faculties of Rocío Jurado.

In August 2014, her relationship with the comedian and actor Edmundo Arrocet was made public. The publicized relationship ended at the end of 2019 through an official statement from María Teresa, made public by her own daughters, Terelu and Carmen, in the Telecinco program Viva la vida.

In 2016 she became the protagonist, along with her daughters, Terelu and Carmen, of the docu-reality Las Campos, broadcast by Telecinco.

Recent years

On May 17, 2017, he suffered cerebral ischemia in the vertebrobasilar territory. After this stroke, her health began to deteriorate.

On March 7, 2019, it was confirmed that Mediaset did not renew the two-year long-term contract with María Teresa Campos, after her contract expired three days earlier.

In January 2021 it is confirmed that she returns to television with Mediaset, to present an interview program on a transparent truck La Camposmobile, which due to the low average audience in its first broadcast, it is removed from the grid.

His physical and cognitive worsening was evident, moving away from the public spotlight since 2022, to receive treatment and care at home.

On September 3, 2023, she was admitted to the Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital due to severe respiratory failure. The next day, her health condition worsens, and she dies at 5:25 in the morning on September 5, 2023 at the age of 82, the same day that her mother, Concepción, died seventeen years ago. Luque Garcia.

After her death, she was transferred to the La Paz Mortuary in Madrid, where various faces from different fields came to say their last goodbye to the renowned Spanish journalist and presenter. At 9:00 p.m. on September 5, 2023, Father Ángel of Messengers of Peace and personal friend of María Teresa Campos, officiates the journalist's funeral mass, at the express wish of her daughters, Terelu and Carmen. and on September 11, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. a second funeral mass is celebrated in Malaga, a city where she arrived as a newborn. After being cremated on September 6, 2023, María Teresa Campos' ashes are transferred to Malaga, where the urn rests in the family pantheon next to the coffins with her parents and her little sister, Araceli.

Jobs

Radio

Television

Programs

Series

Books

María Teresa Campos has also written several books:

• 1993, How to get rid of children before it's too late (Humor - Ed. Themes today).
• 1994, What men? (Humor - Ed. Themes today).
• 1997 Agobios gives us life (Humor - Ed. Themes today).
• 2004, My two lives (Memories - Ed. Planet).
• 2009, Stories of my TV (Memories - Editions B).
• 2012, Princess Letizia (Ensay - Ed. Planet).
• 2014, Amar, what for? (Reflections - Ed. Planet).

Her memoirs were one of the best-selling non-fiction books of 2004. In addition, she has written the prologue to the posthumous biography of Rocío Jurado, Rocío de luna blanca (Ed. Espejo de ink – 2006), together with the journalist Enrique Miguel Rodríguez. Also in 2011 she wrote the prologue to the book ¡Qué tiempo tan Feliz! , based on the program she presented on Telecinco from 2009 to 2017 (Ed. Aguilar-2011).

Discography

• 2018, A beautiful story (with Edmundo Arrocet).

Prizes

• 1980, Premio Ondas: Premio Nacional de Radio (Radio Juventud de Málaga - Radiocadena Española).
• 1994, Antena de Oro, 2000 and 2015.
• 1999, TP Gold, Special Professional Trajectory Award and 2004.
• 2000, Orange Prize.
• 2002, Ondas Award: National Television Award. Best professional work.
• 2003, Golden Microphone.
• 2000, Andalusian Gold Medal 2000.
• 2007, Clara Campoamor Award for its career in the defence of women ' s equality granted by the Ministry of Equality of the PSOE.
• 2012, Iris Prize A lifetime of the Academy of Television and Audiovisual Sciences and Arts of Spain.
• 2013, Award for the best women in Spain. Granted by the Fundación Museo del Calzado
• 2013, Hugo Ferrer Communication Award.
• 2017, Gold Medal to Merit at Work.
• 2017, Hija Adoptiva de la Provincia de Málaga.

Controversies

In July 2015, the media reported on an investigation of Campos's assets carried out by the Treasury's Financial Crimes Unit, in which irregular activities were found in his companies, for which the Treasury would supposedly claim against him. &&&&&&&&&0800000.&&&&&0800,000 euros. However, Campos described the information as "false and riddled with serious errors" and denied the alleged investigation.