| Michael Schildberger | |
| Birth Name: | Michael Julius Schildberger |
| Birth Date: | 4 April 1938 |
| Birth Place: | Berlin, Germany |
| Death Place: | Prahran, Victoria, Australia |
| Education: | Melbourne Grammar School |
| Occupation: | Journalist, broadcaster |
| Years Active: | 1955–2010 |
| Spouse: | Julia (deceased) |
| Children: | 5 |
| Known For: | Host of A Current Affair |
| Awards: | Logie: Best TV interviewer (1976) |
Michael Julius Schildberger (4 April 1938 – 2 June 2010) was an Australian journalist, radio and television presenter, and author. He is best known for hosting A Current Affair in the 1970s.
He was the son of Hermann Schildberger.[1] Hermann had had an important musical career in Berlin prior to being brought out to Melbourne in 1939 by Rabbi Dr Herman Sanger,[2] to escape the Nazis. He was accompanied by his wife (check name) and by Michael who was then a babe-in-arms.
Hermann became musical director of Temple Berth Israel in St. Kilda upon arrival in Melbourne in 1939, as well as taking on a number of other important musical roles including being the founding Musical Director of the Camberwell Chorale.[3]
Michael Schildberger began his media career in 1955 when he joined The Sun News-Pictorial as a copy boy and subsequently became a cadet reporter.[4]
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.[4] For that role, he was awarded a 1976 Logie Award for Best TV Interviewer.[5] 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.[6]
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,[4] with a short stint at 3DB.[7]
In 1984 he founded the media production company Business Essentials.[8]
Schildberger was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997.[4] He achieved remission, and became a strong advocate of positron emission tomography.[9] The cancer returned in early 2010. Schildberger died at the Cabrini Hospital in Prahran on 2 June 2010.[4]