Michael Schildberger


Michael Julius Schildberger was an Australian journalist, radio and television presenter, and author. He is best known for hosting A Current Affair in the 1970s.

Career

Schildberger began his media career in 1955 when he joined The Sun News-Pictorial as a copy boy and subsequently became a cadet reporter.
In 1958 he moved to GTV 9 where he remained for the next twenty years. During the 1970s he was executive producer and national host of A Current Affair. For that role, he was awarded a 1976 Logie Award for Best TV Interviewer. While at A Current Affair he conducted the first full-length television interview with singer-songwriter Neil Diamond, who had only previously done brief group press conferences. The interview was in conjunction with Diamond's 1975-76 "Thank You Australia" tour and nationally broadcast live concert.
After leaving Channel 9, Schildberger worked for several years as Director of News for ATV 10 and FOX-FM. He then moved to Melbourne radio station 3LO where he hosted the morning program, with a short stint at 3DB.
In 1984 he founded the media production company Business Essentials.
Schildberger was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997. He achieved remission, and became a strong advocate of positron emission tomography. The cancer returned in early 2010. Schildberger died at the Cabrini Hospital in Prahran on 2 June 2010.

Publications