Former Midstate Television Newsreader Roger Dunn (16th November, 2022)

Roger Dunn, a former local news anchor, was interviewed about his time working at CBN 8 Orange in the 1980s. Despite leaving television in 1989, he is still remembered and recognized by many in the community. Dunn started as a fill-in newsreader and eventually became a sales manager. He recalls the transition from recorded to live broadcasts and shares fond memories of the station. Dunn moved to Australia from England in 1974 and settled in Orange in 1979. After leaving television, he worked in various roles in radio before retiring. He enjoyed living in Orange and found the community involvement in local media to be strong. Dunn speaks highly of the production values and equipment at CBN 8 Orange. He is currently enjoying retirement, traveling with his wife, tending to his garden, and pursuing his photography hobby. Now, for something a little lighter this morning, I thought we'd take a trip down memory lane. Over 30 years ago, my next guest was invited into many of our homes at 6 o'clock each weeknight, and in an authoritative, yet calm and reassuring voice, with a polished presentation, would inform us of the daily local news from the television studios of CBN 8 Orange, relayed to our area through CWN 6. Now, let me wind the clock back right now to January 1985. A man dies in an accident at a gold mine near Cargo, west of Orange. And the itinerant trader, Shanghai Charlie, arrested twice today in confrontation with police and council officers. Good evening. Also tonight... Of course, that's the voice of Roger Dunn. I'm pleased to welcome Roger to 2D Year Breakfast. Roger, good morning. Good morning. Good to be with you. Now, I was involved in a discussion a little while back about local media. Your name came up, and I was really, really impressed about how well you were still remembered. So, after more than 30 years since you left our screens, does that surprise you? Well, it does indeed. Yes, I disappeared from television in 1989 and haven't been near it since. So... It does surprise me, yes. I can say that your dulcet tones have certainly not changed, Roger. Well, that surprises me too, since I gave up smoking many years ago. So, how long did you read mid-state television and prime local news for? I started in early 1979 and finished in mid-1989. So, ten years. How did you land the role? Now, I heard a story that the late Peter Andron chased you down the corridor one evening when Tony Crowley called in sick. Is that correct? That's true. I was actually an announcer at 2GZ at that time, and I was just leaving the station, and Tony had been taken ill, unwell, and I was asked to do the bulleted. And in those days, of course, it was recorded as opposed to being live. So, we could have a couple of goes to get it right, but yes, that's how it all started. It certainly became live during your tenure, didn't it? Oh, yes. I remember the first live broadcast at 6 o'clock. I can't remember the date, of course. A very fraught time, but we got through it without any trouble, and it was live forever after. It was obviously live because you had to reach for that telephone on the desk in the, I think, the Aston machine, which was the thing that did the super impositions across the screen there, the titles. I think it played up a few times, and you very gingerly had to reach for the phone. Yes, yes. The phone was always at hand. So, you were born in England. You moved to Australia in 1974. How did you end up in Orange? Well, I came to Australia on holiday, and I got a job in radio in Varel, funnily enough, not too far away from you, in 1974. And I moved around, as one does in the radio game, or did in those days, and eventually found myself in Orange in 1979. So, you were an announcer there with 10892GZ, which is actually a sort of change of branding as part of our network, as is in Varel now, Roger. You ended up there as, I believe, a sales manager? Yes, yes. I moved to a sort of a joint role in sales and on air, and then eventually, when the sales manager left to do other things, I was appointed to that role, and I was in that role for probably, I don't know, six years or so. Was the sales manager responsible for both Radio 2GZ and Mid-State Television, or all one? Oh, no, no, no, no. They were really run as quite separate entities. The only crossover, really, was me at 5.30 at night, walking down the corridors of the newsroom. So, prior to coming to Australia, had you done any radio work in England? No, not at all. So, in Varel was your first gig? It was, indeed. And Orange, the first and only ever time that you presented television news? Yes, yep. So, do you have any notable memories of CBN8 there? Look, I've got lots of happy memories, as you can imagine. There were wonderful people working there, and I don't think I have any really specific. I can remember the rebuild, when they rebuilt the station. That was a very exciting time. This was before aggregation came on the scene, of course, and there was a major expansion of the way we operated. But because my time was very much split between the radio and the television side, I can't say I have many specific memories. But one thing I do always remember fondly is the fact that I used to have so many invitations from all around the viewing area to go to shows and talk at clubs and one thing or another, and I used to really love that. I know it's probably not something we talk about too much nowadays, but I remember going to Dubbo, I think, three or four years in a row to judge the Michaux Girl competition. They usually look to local news anchors for that sort of thing, don't they? Yes, well, you were so well-known right across, because back in that day, we only had the ABC and the one commercial television channel, and you would have held the bulk of the audience, so you were very well-known. Yes, yes, I was. Look, I've got to say, it was terrific. I don't pretend to be anything other than a local newsreader, but you couldn't really walk around without people wanting to say hello, which was nice. Did you like living in Orange? Yes, I did, yes. Orange is a lovely city, yeah. Okay, so what caused you to leave in 1989? Well, I was offered a station manager's role, radio station manager's role in Gippsland in Victoria, so I went to Gippsland and stayed there for two or three years before moving on to Geelong and then to Bendigo, and then I finished up my career before I retired in the western districts of Victoria at Hamilton. So your roles, I believe you had the general manager role there at Hamilton. You were also involved in group training too, I think, weren't you? Yes, I was, yes. I was the group general manager for training, yeah. Okay, so certainly local television and indeed radio has contracted since aggregation. Do you consider that Orange was really well-involved in the community? Yes, yes. Times have changed, you know, radio and television has changed so dramatically over the last 20 years or so that it's hard to almost remember what it was like, but I think you will probably recall the days when radio particularly was very heavily involved in the local community, involved in all aspects of the community, and in some cases that still is the case, of course. It struck me too that CBN had particularly high production values for a country television station. It did, it did. I mean, there was a huge investment in equipment there and facilities, and one of the interesting things is that, I'm not sure this is actually true, but I certainly was told this, that the footprint for the two transmitter areas was the second largest television area, coverage area in the world, and the only one larger was actually in Canada. Not many people, but a big area. Well, CWN6 was actually a different licence market, and in fact radio 2DU and television was actually formed in order to be one of the bidders for that, and of course Jack Ridley there at Orange was the successful bidder for the CWN6 licence, and he was a direct relay then, obviously, of CBN8 Orange. Yes, that's right, yes. Okay, so how are you enjoying retirement? Oh, terrific. I think the first year or so when I retired, I've been retired for 12 years now, but the first year or so I was a bit lost, you know, what am I going to do with myself? But no, it's not too bad. My wife and I have travelled a fair bit, and we have our dogs and our garden, and I have my photography, which is one of my interests, and life's pretty good, pretty good. Pretty good. Certainly sounds like it. Roger, it's been great to have your voice on the airwaves in our area once again. I wish you very well for the future, and I no doubt believe that our listeners do too. So, Roger Dunne, thank you very much for your time on 2DU Breakfast this morning. Thank you very much for having me. And that's Mid-State Television News for tonight. I'm Roger Dunne. From all of us here, a very good night. We'll see you tomorrow. Good night.