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Bryan Dobson has revealed that he was “blacklisted” by RTÉ in the early days of his broadcasting career and had to be “laundered” by the BBC before he could join the national broadcaster.
The veteran journalist joined Patrick Kielty on The Late Late Show on the day he retired from RTÉ, 37 years after he began working in the newsroom.
But Dobson’s RTÉ career was almost not meant to be as he was originally “blacklisted” by the national broadcaster because he had worked on pirate radio.
Speaking to host Kielty, he said: “I am told, I was on an RTÉ blacklist. I did get off it eventually – obviously!
“I began my broadcasting career in pirate radio. Now people my age probably remember pirate radio and maybe even some of you who are a little younger.
“I was then headhunted by a producer in RTÉ to be interviewed as a possible reporter.
“In I came, and I was interviewed, and I got a call from the editor… a man called Leo Enright. And Leo called me to say, ‘Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news.’ And I said, ‘Well, OK, what’s the good news?’ ‘Well, the good news is you’ve got the job,’ he said. ‘The bad news is we don’t have any money.’
“Some things in RTÉ just never change,” quipped Dobson.
He continued: “I said, ‘That’s fine,’ and he said, ‘Look, we might get the money. We’re trying to get the budget. If we do, I’ll get back to you.’
“So a number of months passed – a second phone call. ‘There’s good news and there’s bad news… The good news is… you’ve got the job,’ and I said, ‘That’s great.’
“‘The bad news is we’ve been told we can’t hire you by the higher-ups in RTÉ because you are a pirate.’
“So, you can obviously imagine I was pretty crushed by this piece of information.
“But Leo did me a great favour. He recommended me to somebody he knew at the BBC in Belfast at Radio Ulster. I was approached by them and I got a job in Belfast.
“And after about six months, I got a further phone call from Leo to say ‘We’ve got a vacancy and we’re wondering, would you be interested in putting your hat in the ring?’
“And I said, ‘Well Leo, I thought I was blacklisted because I was a pirate?’ ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry about that, you’ve been laundered by the BBC!’
Dobson stayed at the BBC for three years before eventually joining the RTÉ newsroom in 1987 where he presented Marketplace and other TV news programmes.
In 1996 he was appointed anchor of the Six One news – a role he worked in for 21 years. In 2017, Dobson then moved to RTÉ Radio One and joined the presenting team on Morning Ireland.
After that, he took the helm at News at One, presenting the programme throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
He has presented all of RTÉ’s flagship news programmes across television and radio during his time at the broadcaster and anchored its television coverage of elections and special state events.
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