Dobbs was born in Childress, Texas, the son of Frank Dobbs, a co-owner of a propane business, and Lydia Mae Hensley, a bookkeeper. When Dobbs was 12, his father's propane business failed and the family moved to Rupert, Idaho.
He attended Minico High School in Minidoka County, serving as student body president in 1963. He earned a bachelors degree in economics from Harvard University, graduating in 1967.
After graduating, Dobbs worked for federal anti-poverty programs in Boston and Washington, D.C. and as a cash-management specialist for Union Bank in Los Angeles. He married his high school sweetheart in 1969 and in 1970 their first son was born. Dobbs moved to Yuma, Arizona and got a job as a police and fire reporter for KBLU-AM. By the mid-1970s he was a television anchor and reporter in Phoenix, and he later joined Seattle's KING-TV. In 1979, he was contacted by a recruiter for Ted Turner, who was in the process of forming CNN. He is married to his second wife, Debi Lee Segura, who is Mexican-American and a one-time CNN sports anchor. Together, the couple has four children.
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