Tom McGrath (producer)

Tom McGrath
Born(1930-04-22)22 April 1930
Died10 April 1985(1985-04-10) (aged 54)
OccupationTelevision producer
Known forWork on The Late Late Show and several Irish entries to Eurovision

Thomas Patrick "Tom" McGrath (22 April 1930 - 10 April 1985) was a television producer at RTÉ Television, Ireland's national broadcaster. He is known for "pioneering" The Late Late Show in 1962,[1][2] and selecting Gay Byrne to host the show.[3][4] He was also credited with introducing Terry Wogan and Mike Murphy's first television series.[5][6] He chose the song "All Kinds of Everything" for the 1970 National Song Contest, and selected Dana to sing it. It won both the national final therefore becoming Ireland's entry, and went on to win the 1970 Eurovision contest.[7] He later produced and directed Ireland's staging of the 1971 Eurovision contest.

  1. ^ "Photographic Archive - RTÉ producer Tom McGrath (1971)". stillslibrary.rte.ie. RTÉ. Retrieved 3 May 2022. Tom McGrath [..] pioneered 'The Late Late Show' and presided over Ireland's first involvement in the Eurovision Song Contest
  2. ^ "It started on the Late Late Show: Gaybo's most controversial moments". irishexaminer.com. Irish Examiner. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  3. ^ "Death of man behind Late Late.". Evening Press. 10 April 1985.
  4. ^ "Tribute to "brains" of Late Late". Irish Press. 11 April 1985.
  5. ^ "Man who guided 1000 faces". Irish Independent. 11 April 1985.
  6. ^ "Death of Top RTE Director". Evening Herald. 10 April 1985.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference origBBC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).