Former ORF general director Teddy Podgorski has died at the age of 88. His family confirmed this. The journalist has designed many TV formats that are still successful.
During his four-year term in office from 1986, Podgorski promoted the regionalization of television and was responsible for “Federal State Today” and for creating programs for ethnic groups. The successful series ‘Universum’ also goes back to him.
From sports director to general manager
Thaddäus Podgorski was born on July 19, 1935 in Vienna. As early as 1953 he started working as a newsreader and reporter at the Rot-Weiß-Rot station. In 1955 he moved to the current affairs department of the newly founded ORF television and soon became editor-in-chief at “Zeit im Bild”. In 1967 he was promoted to chief reporter by then ORF general director Gerd Bacher.
He created successful programs such as ‘Sportpanorama’ and ‘An den Boxen’. In 1972 he was promoted to TV sports director, where he remained until his appointment as general manager of ORF in 1986. He also regularly appeared on camera for the shows “Seinezeit” and “Jolly Joker”. There were also detours into acting (for example as Gestapo agent Pfalzner in “The Bockerer”) and book publications such as “Mohammed Ali”, “Muscles on Paper” and the Olympic book “Innsbruck and Montreal”.
Podgorsky was a culture lover
He also worked as a theater director and actor, for example when he performed at the Theater in der Josefstadt or in the Wiener Kammerspiele or took part in productions at the State Opera, the Volksoper and the Mörbisch Seefestspiele.
Source: Krone
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