TV legend Hans Meiser dies

He died last week at the age of 77 near Scharbeutz (Schleswig-Holstein) “unexpectedly of heart failure,” as Meiser’s business partner Harald Thoma confirmed. “Bild” had previously reported.

Meiser is considered the inventor of the daily afternoon talk show. His program named after him achieved an audience share of up to 40 percent on RTL in the 1990s.

Radio station started

He often spoke to his guests – almost exclusively non-celebrities – about their everyday problems or special life situations. From 1992 until it was discontinued in 2001, 1,700 episodes of the talk show were broadcast. Meiser also became known as the presenter of the RTL reality show “Notruf”, which re-enacted real emergencies and rescue missions. Shortly before his sudden death, Meiser still had big plans: At the end of October this year, he launched the new private radio station Radio Wellenrausch together with Harald Thoma.

Meiser, who was born in Bad Rothenfelde in Lower Saxony, began his journalistic career on the radio. At the start of German private television in 1984, he switched to TV and was “anchorman” of the main news program “7 vor 7” at RTL until 1992, which was later renamed “RTL aktuell”.

Böhmermann’s sidekick

In 2017, Meiser faced criticism for his work for a controversial online portal. After this activity became known, the production company for Jan Böhmermann’s show “Neo Magazin Royale” (ZDF/ZDFneo) separated from Meiser. At that time he appeared irregularly on the show as a sidekick.

Hans Meiser leaves behind a wife, three children and three grandchildren.