| Lloyd Robertson | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Lloyd Robertson |
| Occupation | Television News Anchor |
Lloyd Robertson, OC, LL.D (born January 19, 1934 in Stratford, Ontario, Canada) is the Chief Anchor and Senior Editor of CTV's national evening newscast, CTV News with Lloyd Robertson.
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Broadcasting career
Radio
Robertson started his broadcasting career in 1952 at CJCS radio in his hometown of Stratford, and moved to CJOY in Guelph, Ontario in 1953.
CBC
Robertson went to television in 1954 when he joined CBC, spending four years in Winnipeg, Manitoba and two years in Ottawa, Ontario, 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 was a crown corporation). Robertson has covered many major events throughout his career, including the 1967 opening of Expo 67 in Montreal, the 1969 Moon landing (along with Percy Saltzman), many Olympic Games, Terry Fox, 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 fall of the Berlin Wall, state funerals, and royal, papal, and U.S. presidential visits.
CTV
From 1976 to 1984, Robertson co-anchored the CTV National News with Harvey Kirck. When Kirck left CTV in 1984, Robertson became the senior news anchor for CTV. Robertson's signature ending of each news broadcast is, "...and that's the kind of day it's been for (the date). For some of you, your local CTV News is coming up next. I'm Lloyd Robertson. For all of us here in the National Newsroom, goodnight." Joe Flaherty parodied him as the newscaster Floyd Robertson (and the more famous alter-ego Count Floyd) on the comedy program SCTV.
Honours
- TV Times Reader's Choice Awards, Canada's Favourite News Anchor – 1998 and 1999
- Officer of the Order of Canada, 1998
- Gemini Award, "Best Host, Anchor, or Interviewer" – 1992, 1994, 1997
- 1994 Winner of the Toronto Star Reader's Voice Award for Favourite TV Anchor
- Honorary Chairperson, 1992 Terry Fox Run
- Honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D) awarded by Royal Roads University – November 3, 2006
- Received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2007.
Pop Culture
In the Corner Gas episode Poor Brent, when Brent imagines being on TV, Lloyd Robertson is interrupted on his newscast by Brent Leroy (played by Brent Butt), eating potato chips. Lloyd says "Do I come to where you work and start eating?" Brent replies by saying "no, but you're welcome to." Later in the episode, when Brent uses his new Wide-Screen Plasma screen HDTV, Brent's crunching on potato chips, yet again, interrupts Lloyd, even when he's on TV. Brent apologizes to the frustrated news anchor, but when Lloyd says "Well, can't I just at least have a chip?" Brent denies, saying it was his last bag.
