AFTER 38 years with the ABC in Canberra, almost 30 of those as the morning newsreader, Marc Dawson made a quiet retirement from the airwaves last Friday.

ABC colleagues have paid tribute to Marc’s professional contribution to public broadcasting as one of the most authoritative and reliable voices the ABC has produced.

Marc Dawson began his career with the national broadcaster in 1977 filling presenting roles across the breakfast, morning, afternoon, drive and evening shifts, as well as sport on the weekends, before settling into the key morning news-reading desk in 1986.

Although Marc has been the best-known voice of ABC News in Canberra he has always avoided the limelight, and so it was when he decided to unplug the microphone, requesting an exit without fanfare and fuss.

Marc is a self-described cricket tragic and in his spare time has published 18 books on the sport he loves.

Now, after decades of “getting up in the dark”, he’s looking forward to some well-earned sleep-ins and dedicating more time to cricket and his other great passions, music and politics.