Padre Alberto gained much fame with his television debut as a talk show host in 1999. He gained so much popularity as host of the show, also named Padre Alberto, that, despite the fact he was in Telemundo and Cristina Saralegui was with Univision, she had an article about him on her magazine, Cristina, la Revista.
In July of 2003, Padre Alberto was interviewed at a local Miami television show. Further down that same month, he officiated Celia Cruz's Miami funeral (Cruz was buried in New Jersey, she had requested for her body to be taken on tour upon her death, and Father Alberto oversaw Miami's ceremony).
Padre Alberto often jokes that people call him either Father Springer or Father Oprah.