Biography (Dante Gebel)
Dante Gebel is 37 years old and has gathered the youth in all the Argentine biggest football stadiums. He has conducted a T.V. programme on the state channel. His T.V. show is broadcast to fifty nations through Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). His radio programme known as “El show de Dante Gebel” is broadcast to 23 countries through the most important radio networks of Latin America. The Argentine football stadiums Velez Sardfield, River Plate and Boca Juniors have been completely full of youth and a thousand people heard him in “Plaza de la República” in the Obelisco. He is the author of “Pasión de multitudes” (Caribe-Betania, publishing house), “El código del campeón” and “Las arenas del alma” (Vida-Zondervan, publishing house).
Dante Gebel has been on tour around Argentina in order to perform his show known as “Superclásicos de la Juventud” and the 23 national football stadiums have been completely full of young people. His engagement book is completely full for the next four years. He performed three shows known as “Misión Argentina” on the same day in Luna Park auditorium, and thousands of people could not attend his show. They stayed outside. In February 2004, more than 70,000 people attended his spectacular show “Superclásico de la Juventud” in Velez Sardfied Argentine football stadium.
“Misión América” show has been performed in Chile, Los Angeles and Miami. Dante Gebel is now preparing a collection of ten books headed to leadership with Vida-Zorndervan publishing house and he is writing a special book on humor monologues. He is the owner of a television and radio broadcasting company in Buenos Aires and he is the manager of a youth magazine “Edición G”. He also performs “Heroes” which is an intense training conference on leadership, around the world.
His beginnings
In July 1991 his radio show “Linea Abierta”, forbidden to adults was his slogan, could be heard at dawn. A young unknown man in his middle twenties caught the audience’s attention with his informal way of speaking different from what people used to hear. The audience started to hear him astonishingly. Telephone calls in favor and against the radio show were received. The phenomenon started to grow. The radio show of Dante Gebel became notoriously popular and very soon it was performed in the afternoons on a better time. In no more than two days it was broadcast to more than 500 radio networks in all the country. Criticism and fear were in a dilemma. However, Dante Gebel finally made a choice: “I cannot please everyone –said Dante Gebel to a reporter of “Visión Joven” newsapaper- I only want to reach the youth and I want them to hear a different message”. He was obviously heard and his programme started to grow even when he did not notice.
The first “Superclásicos”
In November 1993, Dante Gebel encouraged himself to call his audience to attend his show in the popular theatre Astral in Buenos Aires. The result showed what would be coming in the future: two thousand five hundred people were in the theatre and more than a thousand could only hear his show outside. Dante Gebel without any experience and with great charisma could catch people’s attention. In July 1994, his first crusade for life was performed in a quite small stadium known as “Parque Sarmiento” where more than four thousand people attended his show. The following year, his show was performed in a bigger stadium “Obras Sanitarias” very well known by rock musicians and shows. Although it was performed on Wednesday, five thousand young people attended his show. “One night –Dante writes in his book- I had a dream: an important stadium was filled with thousands of young people only to vote in favor of life and moral values. The dream became
real in December 1996, in the Argentine football stadium Velez Sardfield. That was just the beginning. The stadium was filled with more than fifty thousand people. Ramón Ortega, a famous singer and politician, attended the crusade bringing about criticism to Dante Gebel’s crusade. However, Ortega’s attendance caught the press attention and Dante Gebel was immediately called “pastor of the youth” by an Argentine newspaper “Crónica”. He has been known as “pastor of the youth” since then. Gebel does not want him to be identified with religion or politics, he is only interested in being known as a leader who wants to preach in favor of moral values and the necessity of God. Gebel is not a pastor. He does not have a church or a congregation. Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Atheist people attend his shows to face with moral values and the need of a better kind of life.
Since his first show, his message and proposal have been heard notoriously. Dante Gebel has received a lot of invitations from different countries around the world.
Television
The following year, his radio show was broadcast on television. He hired a group of audacious actors to perform his show. José Luis Rodriguez, “El Puma”, a famous singer who saw his show in Buenos Aires, met Dante Gebel and recommended his show “Linea Abierta” to ATC, the Argentine state channel. In the same year, he performed a crusade for life in the Argentine football stadium River Plate that is one of the most important stadiums in Argentina. Pablo Silas, a very famous Brazilian football player, was invited to score a “goal of life” and since then his crusades are called “Superclásicos de la Juventud”. Sixty thousand people attended his show and there, he announced that his show was going to be broadcast on ATC channel during 1998. Even though time shifts and managers decisions affected his t.v. show, Gebel could not stop showing his crusades in Velez and River on T.V. Then he had another challenge: the Obelisco of the city of Buenos Aires.
A hundred thousand people in the Obelisco
This T.V. show was positive affected by high rating peaks and thus the T.V. programme contract was renewed for another year. However, the most important issue was to call the youth for another crusade in “Plaza de la República” in the Obelisco. This place had only been filled by the famous singer Ricky Martin, the dancer Julio Bocca or by the election campaign of the former president Raúl Alfonsín. Dante Gebel announced during the year that his show was going to be performed there but he obtained the government permission a moth before. On the day of the show, due to politic arguments, a tango show was performed no more than 30 metres from Gebel´s platform. However, a 100 thousand young people attended the show, which was one of the most important events in the history of Argentina. The tango show lasted only some minutes. Fernado de La Rúa, former governor of the city of Buenos Aires, could not believe that more than 100 thousand people were in the streets of Buenos Aires. In April 2000, Dante Gebel went on a tour through every province of Argentina filling all the stadiums and thousands of people heard him outside.
What is coming next?
On December 9th, 2000, seventy thousand young people gathered in Boca Juniors football stadium where a new “Superclásico de la Juventud” show was presented before the tour around the world. His second book “El código del campeón” has topped the sales in all Latin America. His messages and monologues on cassettes and cds have been sole notoriously and there are still some books ready to be published. He has just finished his third book “Las arenas del alma” published by Vida-Zondervan which has become the principal book of young people. His show “Misión Argentina” has reached record levels of attendance. Three shows were performed on the same day in Luna Park auditorium. His radio and t.v. programmes are broadcast to 23 countries around the world. Dante Gebel has been working for more than thirteen years and he is now the owner of a radio and
television broadcasting company called “Linea Abierta Group”. “Misión America” (a new version of the show presented in Luna Park auditorium) was performed in Los Angeles, Miami, Chile and in many other parts of the world. He has been in more than 40 nations performing his shows, crusades and conferences. His engagement book is completely full for the next four years.
On February 7th , 2004, more than 70 thousand people attended his show which was a high quality event which succeeded beyond all expectations.
In November 2004, an international magazine “Edición G” of a hundred pages and good quality was published and distributed around Latin America. By the end of the year 2005, his last show “El Ultimo Superclásico de la Juventud –La Despedida” was performed in River Plate with more than 80 thousand people.
There are still more things to be done and Gebel is working to be a history maker. He knows that he cannot come back and future is ahead with plans that he cannot actually reveal. Is it just by chance that the slogan of his programme is “the phenomenon goes on”?
