Helga Vlahović
Helga Vlahović (born January 28, 1945 in Zagreb, Croatian SR) is a Croatian journalist, producer, and television personality, whose career spans five decades in both the former Yugoslavia and the current nation of Croatia.
Vlahović started working at Zagreb Radio and Television (part of the JRT network) in 1964, while studying German, English, and art history at the University of Zagreb; with her newfound job, she ended up not completing her degrees.[1] By 1966, she was promoted to "head of entertainment and musical transmissions," putting her in charge of such popular programs as TV Magazine and musical television shows.[1]
In 1968, she was selected to run the Sopot International Song Festival in Poland, and in 1971 she ran the song festival in Scheveningen, Netherlands.[1] She was then placed in charge of the morning talk show "Good Day, Yugoslavia" (which she hosted) in 1972,[1] as well as the music variety show "Svjetla pozornice" ("Light stage") in 1977 and 1978.[1] From 1978 to 1980, she organized the "Jadranskih susreta" ("Adriatic Reunion," a Yugoslav version of Jeux Sans Frontières).[1]
In 1984 and 1988, Vlahović organized the programs "Beč pozdravlja Zagreb, Zagreb pozdravlja Beč" ("Vienna welcomes Zagreb, Zagreb welcomes Vienna") and "Dubrovnik-Stuttgart," which were musical and travelogue series broadcast between JRT, ORF, and ARD, respectively, geared at Yugoslav guest workers who wanted to "see home" but could not afford to make a trip there.[1] Due to her extensive musical programming experience, as well as her proficiency in English, she was picked, along with Oliver Mlakar, to host the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 in Zagreb[2] following Yugoslavia's win in 1989.[2]
With the fall of Yugoslavia in 1991, Vlahović was quickly put in charge of informational television series relating to the [[|Yugoslav wars|Yugoslav Wars]] on the newly formed HRT channel for the independent nation of Croatia.[1] She was head of "war information programming" until the end of 1995. In 1996, she started her own television series, "Govorimo o zdravlju" ("We speak about health"), which covered many health and wellness topics.[1] After 42 years of working at JRT and HRT, Vlahović retired in 2006.[1]
Vlahović has two daughters, Renee Pea (born 1975), from her ten-year marriage to Franc Pea, and Karla Brnobić (born 1982), from her marriage to neurosurgeon Miljenko Brnobić, who died in 1997.[1] It was his influence which inspired her to start the program "Govorimo o zdravlju."[1]