News just in... Dobbo isn’t going to Morning Ireland
DESPITE speculation that he’s set to move to early morning radio, anchor Bryan Dobson is not preparing to leave RTÉ’s Six One.
It was reported that, amid an overhaul of the RTÉ newsroom, Dobson, 56, was to maybe succeed Cathal MacCoille on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland.
MacCoille has been a regular on the flagship current affairs show since 2001 and is to retire at the end of the month.
Dobson has presented RTÉ’s evening TV news bulletin since 1996, but has also worked on Morning Ireland for brief stints in August for the past number of years. However, a well-placed source within RTÉ told the Irish Daily Mail that Dobson is due back on air in September – and it will be for the Six One news not Morning Ireland.
The presenter is currently on annual leave from the national broadcaster and out of the country.
Meanwhile, a replacement for MacCoille will be confirmed in the coming weeks.
‘There are a range of people on the roster for the coming months,’ a source said.
‘Usually, in summertime, additional people come in to help on the show who wouldn’t normally do so.’ Any move to Morning Ireland may not have been welcomed by Mr Dobson, who generally enjoys relatively normal hours from Monday to Friday.
The working hours on Morning Ireland are notoriously unsociable, with presenters expected in the studio at 4am to prepare for that morning’s upcoming show.
One of the show’s founders, David Davin Power, recently joked that if he’d known what would have been involved in preparing for the show, he never would have signed up to join it in the first place.