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. 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. 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, In 1984 he founded the media production company Business Essentials. Schildberger was diagnosed with
prostate cancer in 1997. The cancer returned in early 2010. Schildberger died at the Cabrini Hospital in
Prahran on 2 June 2010. ==Publications==