Even though he has been seen less frequently on TV recently, it is hard to imagine him withdrawing from the business completely. On the occasion of his 80th birthday on February 14th, ORF is honoring Rapp with a special edition of his nostalgia program “As if it were yesterday”.
The ORF has pulled out excerpts from more than 100 programs to properly honor its long-time presenter in a 90-minute special program on Saturday, February 10th at 10:20 p.m. on ORF 2. From “Spotlight” to “Champion” to the “Brieflosshow”: The showmaster will be seen in his entire spectrum, with numerous friends and companions such as Chris Lohner, Andy Borg, Hans Krankl and Wolfgang Ambros also having their say. Afterwards there will be an edition of “Spotlight” and an episode of the game show “Who A Says” in the program. On February 17, ORF III will be showing, among other things, a new production called “Peter Rapp – The Eternal Showman” (8:15 p.m.), in which companions from the TV and music industry share their thoughts on Rapp.
As a boy, he was a Viennese boy choir
Peter Rapp was born in Vienna in 1944. His musical streak came through at an early age; as a boy he was a member of the Vienna Boys’ Choir. After high school, Rapp volunteered for military service for 15 months and achieved the rank of corporal. He then pursued a journalistic career, working for the daily newspapers “Krone” and “Express”. At the same time, he devoted himself to his passion for the stage and was a rock ‘n’ roll singer. He might also be found as a tour guide, chauffeur or extra in films.
Picture gallery: Cult presenter Peter Rapp turns 80
(Photo: ORF) Bild 1/10
View gallery
He made his television debut in 1963 as a singer on the show “People of Today”. Today, much to Rapp’s regret, the performance can no longer be found in the archive. A little later he appeared as a cabaret artist in the show “Teenager Party” hosted by Willy Kralik. In 1967, Rapp joined Ö3 as a radio announcer. A year later he became the presenter of the youth pop show “Spotlight”, which he directed until 1978. After temporary engagements with ARD, ZDF and “Europawelle Saar”, other formative television formats followed with “Hoppala”, “The Big Chance” and “Who A Says”.
“I enjoyed doing every single broadcast”
“I enjoyed doing every single show,” emphasized Rapp, “that’s why I don’t have any favorites. But when it comes to which shows were the most successful, then Sustainability’s ‘Spotlight’ is certainly in first place because it became a cult show among musicians and young people. Then comes ‘Hoppala’. At that time there were no private channels and no internet, which is why I had up to 3.6 million viewers.” A number that is hard to imagine today. “If we might do that today, I would get a contract for the next 100 years,” said Rapp in a 2019 interview. But “Who Says A” and “Wurlitzer” also attracted keen interest. “I always liked the show that was the last to have great success,” he said pragmatically. He also doesn’t regret any involvement followingwards: “My job is to moderate, and I wasn’t sensitive regarding it.”
Peter Rapp’s life also had its downs. For example, he made headlines in the 1990s when financial difficulties forced him into personal bankruptcy. “I don’t look back and don’t carry around a backpack of possible failures or mistakes,” he once said. “What’s the point? What was, that was.”
“Million Wheel and Letterless Show”
And so it was his TV appearances that made Rapp the center of attention. The long-running hit “Million Wheel” began in 1990 and continued to run as a “letterless show” until the end of 2018 following the currency conversion to the euro. With Martina Rupp he moderated the main evening show “Champion” (1997 to 2000), and until 2011 he was also the face of the “Licht ins Dunkel” gala on ORF. Two years later, Rapp was finally awarded a Romy as the most popular presenter in the “Show” category – by no means the first prize he was able to take home.
He also made a name for himself as a voice actor, having been part of the animated film “The Adventures of Mr. Peabody and Sherman” (2014). The year before, he suffered a heart attack, the consequences of which only kept the entertainer off the screen for a short time. In autumn 2013 he was once more part of the ORF show “The Big Chance” – a format that he was able to help shape in its first edition in the 1980s.
“Artists don’t retire”
In recent years things have become a little quieter around the ORF veteran. But he did not disappear from public view. Posters with him as an advertising ambassador for cheap funerals adorned the street scene. In 2020, Rapp got his own ORF nostalgia show, “As if It Had Been Yesterday,” which runs several times a year. Together with “archive hunter” Johannes Hoppe, he continues to look back on memorable and curious events. It was just “great fun to dig up these things and see them once more,” said the moderator.
Rapp doesn’t think much regarding the future. “I don’t have to think any further. I can’t worry regarding what’s to come,” he once said. But this much seems clear: saying goodbye to the stage or moderation work is unlikely to be an issue. “I have always lived my dream,” emphasized Rapp. “Pension is something for employees, workers and civil servants. Artists don’t retire.”
