James Edward Dibble (4 February 1923 – 13 December 2010) was an Australian television presenter, best known as the presenter of the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

's (ABC) Sydney news for 27 years, from Monday, 5 November 1956 until his retirement on Friday, 10 June 1983.

Career

Dibble was born in February 1923 in Newtown, New South Wales. He joined the ABC after the end of World War II. He started as a clerk in the accounts department. His voice soon attracted attention, and in Canberra he gained his first ABC job in radio doing

voice-overs Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...

. Dibble was best known as the senior newsreader for ABC-TV, beginning with the first televised news bulletin on

ABN-2 ABN is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television station in Sydney. The station began broadcasting on 5 November 1956. Its original studios were located in Gore Hill and were in use up until March 2004, when they were co-located w ...

Sydney on 5 November 1956. He reported the biggest news stories of the period, including the Soviet intervention in the Hungarian Revolution (in his very first bulletin; the events in Hungary caused the scheduled commencement of the ABC-TV news service to be brought forward), the

assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...

(1963), the disappearance of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Harold Holt (1967), the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...

Moon landing (1969), the destruction of Darwin by

Cyclone Tracy Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 24 to 26 December 1974. The small, developing easterly storm had been observed passing clear of the city i ...

(1974), and the dismissal of the Whitlam government (1975). He appeared as himself in episodes of the ABC-TV comedy series '' Our Man In Canberra'' and '' Our Man In The Company'' episodes, narrated segments of the

radiophonic The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering work in electron ...

works
What's Rangoon To You Is Grafton To Me
(1978) and
Hot Bananas
, written by Russell Guy and originally broadcast on radio station 2JJ (Double Jay). Dibble also did voice-over work for many

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, inform ...

s, documentariesJensen, Eri
"James Dibble, 'the face and voice of the ABC', dies at 87"

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

, 14 December 2010. p.3 Retrieved 14 December 2010 and educational films. Spanning almost 30 years, his career at the ABC ended with his retirement in 1983. His last broadcast was on 10 June of that year. However, in 1992 he returned to read the 8pm radio news from 1932 during a broadcast marking the 60th anniversary of ABC Radio.

Personal life

Dibble was the son of Roland and Vera Dibble. He attended school in

Marrickville Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local gove ...

at St Brigid's Primary School and then De La Salle College. He served in the Pacific with the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

during World War II as a wireless telegraphist. Dibble never married or had children, but was described as a family-orientated man."ABC newsreader Dibble dies"
.

Yahoo7 Yahoo! Australia (formerly Yahoo7 between 2006 and 2018) is the Australian subsidiary of global internet company Yahoo! Originally a 50/50 joint venture between Yahoo! and Seven West Media, it has been a 100% subsidiary of Verizon Media since M ...

, 13 December 2010, Retrieved 13 December 2010 He served as a chairman of the Peer Support Foundation, a president of the Rotary Club of Warringah, and a member of Rotary International District 9680 Public Relations Committee.

Awards

Dibble was appointed a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) on 1 January 1972 for services to media, and a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

on 26 January 1989 for community and media services. He was also awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001. He was the first winner of the Better Hearing Australia Clear Speech Award in 1967, for his clear

diction Diction ( la, dictionem (nom. ), "a saying, expression, word"), in its original meaning, is a writer's or speaker's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression in a poem or story.Crannell (1997) ''Glossary'', p. 406 In its common meanin ...

. He also received Clear Speech Awards in 1968 and 1981."Clear Speech Award Winners"
Better Hearing Australia-Sydney Branch, betterhearingsydney.org.au, Retrieved 14 December 2010

Death

Dibble died of cancer in Sydney on 13 December 2010, aged 87.

References

External links

* ttp://www.abc.net.au/sydney/stories/s739512.htm Mrs Dibble's Christmas Pudding
History of the ABC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dibble, James 1923 births 2010 deaths People from Sydney ABC News (Australia) presenters Members of the Order of Australia Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Centenary Medal Royal Australian Air Force airmen Deaths from cancer in New South Wales Burials in New South Wales Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II