Lloyd Robertson
Encyclopedia
Lloyd Robertson, OC
(born January 19, 1934) is the currently the co-host of CTV's weekly magazine series, W5
. Robertson previously served as the chief anchor
and senior editor of CTV
's national evening newscast, CTV News with Lloyd Robertson
, until September, 2011, when he retired from the CTV National News team.
in Montreal, the 1969 Moon landing
(along with Percy Saltzman
), many Olympic Games, Terry Fox
's Marathon of Hope, the patriation of the Canadian Constitution, both the 1980 Quebec referendum
and the 1995 Quebec referendum
on separation from Canada, many federal elections, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales
, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the power outage crisis on both sides of the border.
On the scene, he has covered the construction of the Berlin Wall
, the deaths of four Canadian prime ministers, the elections of nearly half of Canada's prime ministers, state funeral
s, and royal
, papal
, and U.S. presidential visits. His name was also the basis for the satirical news anchor character Floyd Robertson
, portrayed by Joe Flaherty
on the Canadian TV comedy series SCTV
.
radio in his hometown of Stratford
, and moved to CJOY
in Guelph
in 1953.
, spending four years in Winnipeg
(CBWT
) and two years in Ottawa
(CBOT), before hosting CBC Weekend in the late 1960s, and later anchor of The National from 1970 to 1976, before joining CTV in October that year. One of the reasons he left CBC was his frustration at union regulations which confined news anchors to the role of announcer - prohibiting them from writing their own scripts or participating in editorial decisions concerning the news broadcast. He also stood to gain financially from the move, as CTV was within the private sector and could offer him a higher wage (while the CBC is a crown corporation).
. When Kirck retired from the anchor desk in 1984, Robertson became the senior news anchor for CTV. Since 2004, Robertson has also served as one of the hosts of CTV's current affairs program W5, alternating with CTV's lead weekend anchor Sandie Rinaldo
.
Robertson's signature sign-off of each news broadcast is, "And that's the kind of day it's been."
Robertson has outlasted Kirck, the late Walter Cronkite
, Dan Rather
, Bob Schieffer
, Tom Brokaw
, and the late Peter Jennings
to become the longest-serving network news anchor in television history; he is also one of the longest-serving news anchors on English-language North American television (network or local) along with KTRK-TV
(Houston)'s Dave Ward
, WNBC
(New York)'s Chuck Scarborough
and KING-TV
(Seattle)'s Jean Enersen. He has been in the broadcasting business for over 60 years.
In February 2010, Robertson denied rumours of his impending retirement as a "work of fiction" during an appearance on Vancouver talk radio
station CKNW. However, on the CTV National News broadcast of July 8, 2010, Robertson officially announced he would be leaving the anchor chair September 1, 2011. He has stated that he will continue on in various capacities at the network and in public life including being host of W5.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(born January 19, 1934) is the currently the co-host of CTV's weekly magazine series, W5
W-FIVE
W5 is a Canadian news magazine television series produced by CTV News. The program is currently initially broadcast Saturday nights at 7 p.m...
. Robertson previously served as the chief anchor
News presenter
A news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...
and senior editor of CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
's national evening newscast, CTV News with Lloyd Robertson
CTV National News
CTV National News is CTV's flagship newscast, which airs at 11:00 p.m. local time on the CTV stations across Canada, and live at 10:00pm ET, with repeats hourly up until 2 a.m. ET on CTV News Channel, CTV's 24-hour cable news television channel, and the previous day's can be seen on the Internet. ...
, until September, 2011, when he retired from the CTV National News team.
Broadcasting career
Robertson has covered many major events throughout his career, including the 1967 opening of Expo 67Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...
in Montreal, the 1969 Moon landing
Moon landing
A moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned missions. The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on 13 September 1959. The United States's Apollo 11 was the first manned...
(along with Percy Saltzman
Percy Saltzman
Percy Saltzman, was a meteorologist and television personality best remembered for being the first weatherman in Canadian television history....
), many Olympic Games, Terry Fox
Terry Fox
Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox , was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research...
's Marathon of Hope, the patriation of the Canadian Constitution, both the 1980 Quebec referendum
1980 Quebec referendum
The 1980 Quebec referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the place of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. The referendum was called by Quebec's Parti Québécois government, which strongly favoured secession from Canada...
and the 1995 Quebec referendum
1995 Quebec referendum
The 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum to ask voters in the Canadian province of Quebec whether Quebec should secede from Canada and become an independent state, through the question:...
on separation from Canada, many federal elections, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the power outage crisis on both sides of the border.
On the scene, he has covered the construction of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
, the deaths of four Canadian prime ministers, the elections of nearly half of Canada's prime ministers, state funeral
State funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honor heads of state or other important people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements of military tradition...
s, and royal
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
, papal
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, and U.S. presidential visits. His name was also the basis for the satirical news anchor character Floyd Robertson
Floyd Robertson
Floyd Robertson is a fictional news anchor and reporter, portrayed by Joe Flaherty on the Canadian sketch comedy series SCTV in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a co-anchor, with Earl Camembert , of the SCTV News...
, portrayed by Joe Flaherty
Joe Flaherty
Joe Flaherty is an American-Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian sketch comedy SCTV, from 1976 to 1984, and as Harold Weir on Freaks and Geeks...
on the Canadian TV comedy series SCTV
Second City Television
Second City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.- Premise :...
.
Radio
Robertson started his broadcasting career in 1952 at CJCSCJCS (AM)
CJCS is a Canadian radio station in Stratford, Ontario with an oldies format at AM 1240 kHz.The station, known as "10AK" began broadcasting in 1928 as an amateur station at 250 metres. In 1933, the station changed to 1200 kHz, moved to 1210 kHz in 1936 and then moved to its present...
radio in his hometown of Stratford
Stratford, Ontario
Stratford is a city on the Avon River in Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada with a population of 32,000.When the area was first settled by Europeans in 1832, the townsite and the river were named after Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It is the seat of Perth County. Stratford was...
, and moved to CJOY
CJOY (AM)
CJOY is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 1460 AM in Guelph, Ontario. Its sister station is CIMJ-FM.-History:Wally Slatter and Fred Metcalf opened Guelph's first radio station, CJOY, on June 14, 1948 on 1450 kHz with 250 watts power, non-directional with transmitter using one tower in...
in Guelph
Guelph
Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
in 1953.
CBC
Robertson went to television in 1954 when he joined CBCCBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
, spending four years in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
(CBWT
CBWT
CBWT is the CBC's television station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is the only CBC station in Manitoba, since Brandon's CKX-TV closed on October 2, 2009....
) and two years in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
(CBOT), before hosting CBC Weekend in the late 1960s, and later anchor of The National from 1970 to 1976, before joining CTV in October that year. One of the reasons he left CBC was his frustration at union regulations which confined news anchors to the role of announcer - prohibiting them from writing their own scripts or participating in editorial decisions concerning the news broadcast. He also stood to gain financially from the move, as CTV was within the private sector and could offer him a higher wage (while the CBC is a crown corporation).
CTV
From 1976 to 1984, Robertson co-anchored the CTV National News with Harvey KirckHarvey Kirck
Harvey Kirck was a Canadian news anchor. Born in Northern Ontario, Kirck moved with his family to Toronto in 1943.-Radio Days:His career began in radio at Sault Ste...
. When Kirck retired from the anchor desk in 1984, Robertson became the senior news anchor for CTV. Since 2004, Robertson has also served as one of the hosts of CTV's current affairs program W5, alternating with CTV's lead weekend anchor Sandie Rinaldo
Sandie Rinaldo
Sandie Rinaldo is a Canadian television journalist and anchor for CTV News.-Youth and education:...
.
Robertson's signature sign-off of each news broadcast is, "And that's the kind of day it's been."
Robertson has outlasted Kirck, the late Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
, Dan Rather
Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9,...
, Bob Schieffer
Bob Schieffer
Bob Lloyd Schieffer is an American television journalist who has been with CBS News since 1969, serving 23 years as anchor on the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News from 1973 to 1996; chief Washington correspondent since 1982, moderator of the Sunday public affairs show Face the Nation since...
, Tom Brokaw
Tom Brokaw
Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors...
, and the late Peter Jennings
Peter Jennings
Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings, CM was a Canadian American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC's World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer...
to become the longest-serving network news anchor in television history; he is also one of the longest-serving news anchors on English-language North American television (network or local) along with KTRK-TV
KTRK-TV
KTRK-TV, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Houston, Texas...
(Houston)'s Dave Ward
Dave Ward (reporter)
Davíd Henry Ward is most known for his career of over 40 years as anchor of the weekday 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm newscasts on KTRK-TV's Eyewitness News in Houston, Texas...
, WNBC
WNBC
WNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...
(New York)'s Chuck Scarborough
Chuck Scarborough
Charles Bishop "Chuck" Scarborough III is an American television journalist and author. Since 1974 Scarborough has been the lead male news anchor at WNBC-TV, the New York City-based flagship station of the NBC Television Network, and has also appeared on NBC News. He currently co-anchors with...
and KING-TV
KING-TV
KING-TV, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Seattle, Washington, affiliated with the NBC network. Owned by Belo Corporation, it broadcasts on UHF digital channel 48. Its offices and broadcasting center are located just east of Seattle Center...
(Seattle)'s Jean Enersen. He has been in the broadcasting business for over 60 years.
In February 2010, Robertson denied rumours of his impending retirement as a "work of fiction" during an appearance on Vancouver talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
station CKNW. However, on the CTV National News broadcast of July 8, 2010, Robertson officially announced he would be leaving the anchor chair September 1, 2011. He has stated that he will continue on in various capacities at the network and in public life including being host of W5.
Honours
- TV Times Reader's Choice Awards, Canada's Favourite News Anchor – 1998 and 1999
- Officer of the Order of CanadaOrder of CanadaThe Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, 1998 - Gemini AwardGemini AwardThe Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...
, "Best Host, Anchor, or Interviewer" – 1992, 1994, 1997 - ScotScottish peopleThe Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
of the Year Award, The Scottish Studies Society, 1995 - 1994 Winner of the Toronto StarToronto StarThe Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
Reader's Voice Award for Favourite TV Anchor - Honorary Chairperson, 1992 Terry Fox RunTerry Fox RunThe Terry Fox Run is an annual non-competitive charity event held in numerous regions around the world in commemoration of Canadian cancer activist Terry Fox, and his Marathon of Hope, and to raise money for cancer research....
- Honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D) awarded by Royal Roads UniversityRoyal Roads UniversityRoyal Roads University is a public university located in Colwood, Greater Victoria, British Columbia, that describes itself as "Canada's University for Working Professionals".-Overview:...
– November 3, 2006 - Received a star on Canada's Walk of FameCanada's Walk of FameCanada's Walk of Fame , located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful Canadians...
in 2007.