Gordon Dryden: A TV current affairs pioneer…

Interview – 2016

Gordon Dryden had a long and distinguished career in journalism, public relations and broadcasting. He became a familiar face on New Zealand television in the 1970s, fronting sports and then current affairs programming. Dryden made a name for himself as a tough interviewer on The Friday Conference, and as a talk radio host. Later he developed education books, both in print and online.

Dryden died in September 2022. In this ScreenTalk interview from 2016, Dryden talks about:

Being asked to host Sportsroom despite little knowledge of sport
How an on air comment lead to him getting wet
Successfully predicting the outcome of the 1967 referendum on drinking hours
Beating TV One in calling the result of the 1975 General Election
Challenging controversial cancer doctor Milan Brych in an interview
How weightlifter Precious McKenzie made all the difference during a squabble-filled Friday Conference special
Creating The Learning Web to take advantage of changes in media

This video was first uploaded on 9 May 2016, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside

Within five or 10 minutes of the election being over, I managed to forecast what the result was going to be and I got it right within a half percent. That sort of made my name as a current affairs and sports commentator, as well, with a certain amount of knowledge...
– Gordon Dryden on his impressive forecasting of a 1967 referendum

Gordon's Full Profile