Hans Meiser is probably one of the most famous faces in private television and was considered the “man of the first hour” for RTL Plus. Now the presenter has died of heart failure at the age of 77. His own radio station “Radio Wellenrausch” announced this in a statement on Monday (November 6th).
It says: “The TV legend, presenter and co-founder of our station Radio Wellenrausch died unexpectedly of heart failure at the age of 77. From day one, Hans Meiser was passionate about building our station and developed numerous formats for this purpose. We will never forget this great man, friend and co-founder of our station Radio Wellenrausch! Thanks Hans. Thank you for everything.”
The broadcaster continues: “His skills and work were recognized, among other things, with the renowned Golden Camera and Bambi awards as well as the Golden Cable and the Audience Lion from RTL. Hans Meiser leaves behind a wife, three children and three grandchildren. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and loved ones.”
Meiser, born on August 20, 1946 in Bad Rothenfelde, began working for radio at the age of 15. After dropping out of his art history studies, he tried his hand at being a radio presenter and got his own “Pop Show” in 1970. After moving to the news department at Radio Luxembourg, Meiser took over the first TV news program on the newly founded first private television station RTL Plus (“7 vor 7”, later “RTL aktuell”) in 1984 and spoke it until 1992.
Hans Meiser shaped the talk show boom in Germany
He also gained notoriety on RTL from 1992 onwards through the program “Notruf”, which he moderated and which found a large audience. At the same time, he launched a talk show called “Hans Meiser”, whose guests were not celebrities, but people from the public. A hit that brought him and his station high ratings and ultimately contributed to the establishment of private television in Germany. The result was a talk show boom, especially on RTL and Sat 1. The presenter received numerous television awards and also remained popular with other programs such as “Life! It was stupid”, which primarily relied on his aura of the serious but also mischievous anchor man in the minds of the audience.
Hans Meiser always knew not to take himself too seriously. In the news program parody of “RTL Saturday Night” he intoned the jingle with a xylophone. From 2015 onwards he appeared in the “Neo Magazine Royale” first as the angry “Little Man” and then as the Federal President actor Hans-Meiser Steinmeiser. However, Jan Böhmermann’s production company ended the collaboration when it became known that the moderator had recorded advertising sports for an online portal that produces right-wing populist propaganda.
In recent years, Meiser has tried to return to his old love of radio and founded his own station “Radio Wellenrausch” in Lübeck.