Tony Charlton

Antony Erling "Tony" Charlton, AM (28 March 1929 – 17 December 2012) was an Australian sports broadcaster.

Charlton's parents were both from New Zealand. His father, Conrad, was a radio broadcaster for the ABC, who had served in World War I and was wounded during the Battle of the Somme. His mother Hazel, was an Opera singer. Following his elder brother, journalist Michael Charlton, he was born in Sydney. Tony Charlton was educated at Scotch College, Perth, where he captained the First XI cricket team. After moving to Melbourne, he set his sights on the South Melbourne Cricket Club, but was deterred by the high standard of players already on the team. He subsequently turned his attention to radio with the encouragement of his father.

Charlton began his career at Melbourne radio station 3AW. There he joined veteran presenter Norman Banks for the stations first Australian rules football broadcast, a night match between Essendon and Richmond at the Melbourne Showgrounds in 1952. He later joined John Clemenger Advertising to host the London Stores Football Show and The Kia-Ora Sports Parade, broadcast on 3UZ and 3KZ respectively.

Charlton moved to Channel 9 to cover the 1956 Summer Olympics. In the same year he presented more than 300 two-minute radio interviews with Melbourne identities, targeted at a national American audience. These broadcasts, commissioned by the Victorian Promotion Committee were aired on the NBC radio program Monitor. The following year he joined Channel 7 as a commentator for the first televised Victorian Football League matches. In 1960 he was lured back to Channel 9, where he hosted The Tony Charlton Football Show, a program broadcast on Sunday afternoons in competition with Channel 7's World of Sport. One of the most memorable interviews on the program was with an emotional Norm Smith, following his sacking as coach of the Melbourne Football Club. He also presented a weekly interview program on Channel 9 over a period of four years. The program, Interview with Tony Charlton, was broadcast nationally on Sunday nights with the subjects including British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, United States senator Robert Kennedy, and actor Gregory Peck. In 1967, he broadcast live from Cheviot Beach following the disappearance of prime minister Harold Holt.

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