 George ‘Yegor’ Shishkovsky
was born in Moscow in the
summer of 1969 into an
artistic family – his
grand parents were
painters and
his father, Vsevolod
Shishkovsky, was one of
the most prominent Russian
TV broadcasters. In the
early 80s it was quite
unusual for Russians to
travel abroad and Yegor
was lucky to spend his
formative teenage years in
Geneva, Switzerland, where
his father worked for
nearly five years. It was
there that Yegor fell in
love with radio. He
started to visit the
studios of a local radio
station, helping DJs
answer calls and selecting
requested CDs (oops… vinyl
45s).
Back in the USSR at the
age of 15 was quite an
experience for Yegor:
“Teenage years are not
easy in most cases anyway,
but moving to such a
repressed and communist
controlled society was
definitely the hardest
period of my live and I
still feel the emotional
scars ”.
But soon things started to
get better. Shortly after
Gorbachev commenced his
reforms, Yegor, then only
17, was offered the place
as co-presenter of the
very first programme to
concentrate wholly on
Western music. He became
probably the youngest
presenter in the country.
Yegor recalls: “The show
“45 minutes in the Sunday
studio” started by going
out on the state station
once a month and lasted
only 45 minutes – this
alone says a lot. Every
word was scripted, every
page needed about 5
signatures and official
stamps. But within 6
months the show became
weekly and the controllers
who used to read my
scripts were gone.”
After his “A-level” exams,
Yegor read Journalism and
Russian Literature at
Moscow University – the
degree course lasted five
years but at the same time
he worked on the national
and very popular radio
station, Radio Yunost,
where he presented weekend
evening shows and the
chart show.
Meanwhile, Yegor’s parents
had been send to London
where his father continued
to work for Russian TV.
Yegor was visiting then
regularly and in 1993 he
moved to England, went to
an English language
school, and undertook
marketing courses with a
view to starting a new
career. But journalism was
in his blood and little by
little he found himself
writing for some of
Russia’s most influential
publications
(Komsomolskaya Pravda, MK,
Cosmopolitan, Elle). He
was also helping his
father on his weekly 30
minutes TV-programme
“Shishkovsky’s Euroworld”.
In 1995 Yegor started to
develop his own weekly
radioshow. “The idea was
to create an exciting
radio product beamed live
from London across all
Russia and to bring
listeners the latest
entertainment stories, new
releases and exclusive
interviews with top
artists”. Produced by
Angell Sound the 2-hour
“Live from the west” went
live on Radio Russia, the
national state station,
and soon was also taken
over by Radio Silver Rain
– the trendy Moscow based
commercial network. The
idea was an instant
success and attracted lots
of attention. It was
nominated for the
prestigious Russian radio
award in the “Best show”
and “Best DJ” categories.
In 2000 Visa International
became a sponsor of the
show and its title was
changed to
“Visa
-
Svobodniy Polet” (“Visa
-
In the air”).
The programme became even
bigger and better. In
December 2002 despite all
the success
Yegor decided to stop the
show after nearly 8 years
on air. He took some time
off and now concentrating
on other projects -
internet and TV related.
Yegor permanently lives in
Central London with his
partner but goes back to
Russia regularly to see
his family and friends.
His interests include
traveling, theatre,
movies, gardening,
eating out
and computing. He would
like to spend more time
helping the environmental
movement.
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