Favorite of millions: all about the life of the main face of 90s television, Vlad Listev

People know the name of Vladislav Listjev, even those who are far from journalism as such. In the early 1990s, the TV presenter became a real folk hero and the main face of Russian television of that time. Thanks to Vlad, such TV shows as “Field of Miracles”, “Look”, “Rush Hour”, “Guess the Melody” and “Theme”.

27 years ago, on March 1, 1995, Listyev was killed in the entrance of his own house on Novokuznetskaya Street in the center of Moscow. The murder of one of the most prominent figures in the history of Russian television was a real tragedy for millions of Russians and caused a wide response. Unfortunately, despite this, the crime remained unsolved – the killer was never found.

Born into a family of factory workers, Vlad Listyev showed an interest in sports from an early age. So he became the champion of the USSR in athletics at 1000 meters and planned to connect his life with a big sport, preparing for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

However, in parallel with training, Listyev entered the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University, after graduation he worked as a coach. But then journalism began to fascinate the young man more and more, and in 1982, after graduation, Vladislav got a job at the State Television and Radio Company of the USSR and left the career of an athlete forever.

From the first days of his internship, Listyev showed himself to be a capable and talented worker, so he almost immediately received an offer for the position of editor of broadcasts for foreign countries of the Main Editorial Office of Propaganda. Five years later, in 1987, he transferred to the Central Television of the USSR and became one of the first presenters of the program Vzglyad, which had just started broadcasting.

The program raised topics of Western culture, socio-political agenda, which became a real breath of fresh air for viewers. Yes, everything was done with an eye on party politics, but it was really brave.

Realizing that he was facing a new reality, Vladislav was inspired and decided to radically change the face of Soviet television and, together with several colleagues, founded the VID television company.

What does the terrifying logo of the TV company VID actually mean – did you know?

Listyev became the general director of the company, and a new era of domestic television began in the early 1990s. Vladislav’s first exceptional project was the capital show Field of Miracles, which is still ongoing. Then, on the eve of the collapse of the USSR, a show where with a flick of the wrist you could win a box of money, a scarce product or – even better – a car! Today, the permanent host of the program is Leonid Yakubovich, but Vlad Listyev himself was the first host.

Popularity “Field of Miracles” she gave Listyev the green light for his other ideas. So, in 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the talk show “Topic” appeared, then the children’s program “Hour of the Stars”, the TV game “L-Club”, the documentary program “Silver Ball” (released until 2010), the talk show “Rush Hour” (similar to the Larry King Show) and more.

In 1993, Listyev was “asked” for the post of general director of the VID television company, and then moved to ORT – the future Channel One. The fight for content has intensified so much that Vladislav has real enemies.

Nevertheless, Listyev continued his progressive policy in the field of television. One of his most important and boldest decisions was, for example, a complete ban on advertising on the first federal channel – thus he fought against the monopoly of advertisers on television.

“Of course he had the chief talent of a leader, namely, ability “break through” screen and sit next to each individual viewer … Every time he was a presenter, the program gained absolutely huge popularity … He found the key to the viewer, knew how to interest this viewer, and he did it very professionally, “Vladimir Pozner recalled.

The personal life of Vladislav Listyev cannot be called happy or, as his contemporaries said, successful. He was married three times.

Vladislav met his first wife, Elena Esina, before entering the university – at a sports camp in 1977. They got married, but their happiness was short-lived: their newborn son died (according to rumors, Elena gave birth prematurely – due to the stress of her husband’s constant betrayals).

The relationship broke up and Esina decided to leave her husband despite her second pregnancy. The daughter, whom she named Valeria, was born after a divorce, and the journalist was not particularly interested in her life.

The second wife, Tatyana Lyalina, Listyev was “given” Faculty of Journalism. Unfortunately, the result of this relationship turned out to be monstrously similar to the first experience: the couple’s son was born very painfully, suffered from many diseases and died of influenza at the age of 6.

The tragedy paralyzed Vladislav, he even tried to commit suicide and then drank heavily. Even the birth of another son did not deter him from the bottle. As a result, Tatyana could not stand it: she took the child and left.

The third and last wife of the journalist was Albina Nazimova, who, as they say, saved her beloved from alcoholism. They got married in 1991 and lived happily until Listyev’s death in 1995. The couple had no children – they had no time.

Three husbands and childbirth after 40 years: how the last love of Vladislav Listyev lives

By speaking out against the monopoly on ORT, Vladislav made even more enemies. Threats began to come to him regularly, until finally they came through: on March 1, 1995, Listyev was shot in the entrance of his house late in the evening, when he was returning from the filming of the program Špička. . Vladislav was 38 years old.

The entire next day, ORT TV broadcast a photo of the journalist with the loud caption “Vladislav Listyev was killed. Despite widespread publicity in Russia and abroad, the journalist’s murder remains unsolved.

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Photo: A. Glevkin/EAst News, Nikolai Malyshev/TASS, Getty images, Persona Stars