At long last Lloyd Robertson is stepping down, resigning as anchor of CTV national news. I'll bet Lloyd can't find anyone still in the business who was there when he got in back in the early 50's. Pretty much anybody and everybody he looked up to has long settled in for the eternal dirt nap.
Lloyd is a fixture, I'll give him that. Then again, so is a lamp post but you won't find too many lamp posts still around from the early 50's.
But was there any real greatness to Lloyd Robertson or is he just an old fart with a faithful following? I can't think of any great journalistic moment that characterizes Lloyd. I remember during the Montreal Olympics when some Russian ox set a world record for the clean and jerk in weightlifting whereupon Lloyd opined, "Gee, that looks heavy." Really, Lloyd? Really? It "looks heavy"?
I was disappointed so many years ago when Lloyd didn't step down as expected to make way for Keith Morrison. Of course I wasn't quite so disappointed as Keith must have been before he made his way to the TV studios of California and spent much too much time in the sun. Keith, however, was a journalist and did some good work in his day which concluded before he got into hawking lurid tales of sensational murders.
I grew up in the era of Cronkite, Chancellor, Huntley, Brinkley, Howard K. Smith and Eric Sevareid, and later, Dan Rather, Robert McNeil & Jim Lehrer, Peter Jennings, and Bob Schieffer - all Robertson's contemporaries. If he's to be measured by anybody it's those guys. They set the bar and, when you look at it that way, Lloyd Robertson was pretty damned mediocre.
I like him quite a lot when he hosted Razzle Dazzle.
ReplyDeleteAs lead anchor, he presided over the airing of Stephane Dion's asking a question to be repeated, which Duffy was sanctioned for/was made a senator. He's long past his best-before date, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about that 75 years of age limit for the Senate...
ReplyDeleteLloyd was the first person on Canadian TV to make a million a year, when he switched from the CBC to CRV. I think it pissed off his CRV co anchor.
ReplyDeleteI always liked Knowton Nash on the CBC. As for Lloyd he appeared dumber than a bed post
I like Lisa his replacement though, she was about the only talking head that got pissed during the G20 Police Riot when they arrested her cameraman, I think.
Lloyd was born in Stratford Ontario went to "Stratford Collegiate as a boy. Last week he was back in Stratford for Loyd Roberson day,by the Mayor, which will be September 1st
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what bearing Lloyd's Stratford roots have on his journalistic talents.
ReplyDeleteLloyd began with CBC when it was Liberal in tone. He is not worse nor better than any other Canadian anchor in this country at the moment. Evan Solomon comes to mind. It's a good thing Evan can refer to twitter for his days questions put to his guests and that voice.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Willy - Knowlton Nash was a terrific anchor and so unassuming. He looked like the make-up team just passed him over which made him all the more likable.
ReplyDeleteAh, Knowlton. He was anchor while I toiled at CBC in Ottawa. Had quite the reputation as a rake. Word around the Corp was, if you valued your wife, keep her away from that guy. But you're right, he was very talented even though, like Dick Cheney, he gave himself the job.
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