When he performed on the All-Union Radio channel he was heard by the vocal instructor Mikhail L'vovich Lvov. Lvov is credited with making Vinogradov into a professional singer – with lessons in diction, breathing, flexibility, and finally in producing the sound he became famous for. Later studies were with Valeria Vladimirovna Barsova, a Bolshoi Opera soprano with whom he also made two duet recordings. On the radio, Vinogradov sang a wide range of material from jazz to art songs; in World War II he sang with the USSR Committee of Defense Model Orchestra.