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 He's highly respected CNN anchor John Roberts now but back in the day (inset), Toronto music fans knew him as J.D. Roberts, host of '80s favourite The New Music and, later, MuchMusic. |
He may have left the mullet behind in Canada, but he'll always be J.D. Roberts at home.
Previously, the big-haired interviewer of such metal bands as Twisted Sister and Motley Crue on The New Music, MuchMusic and The Power Hour in the 1980s, the Toronto-born Roberts became John Roberts after moving to the U.S. to work in TV news at CBS and CNN, the latter where he currently co-anchors American Morning.
The incredible journey was acknowledged on Thursday night in Toronto during Canadian Music Week as Roberts was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame.
"I was so blown away by the fact that I would have even been considered," said Roberts, 52, in an interview with Sun Media just a few hours before the honour was bestowed with fellow CNN afternoon anchor Kyra Phillips in tow.
"I left here in 1992 and thought I'd left a lot of friends behind and, to some degree, left the country behind. And for them to still be watching after this long was so humbling and such an honour."
Roberts, whose first job was at a Mississauga radio station, understands why Canada has held on to his early rock 'n' roll broadcast image -- even late night TV's Jon Stewart likes to dredge up old video on his show. However, Roberts points out that it was a blip in his lengthy journalism career.
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"That was such a short phase in my career but I guess it was significant phase in my career, particularly during my time here in Canada," Roberts said. "I've been in this business for 34 years -- and only five years of that was in music -- but the bulk of it has been in news. It was a significant time because we were creating brand new things. We created The New Music, we created MuchMusic, so people remember that, and they remember it fondly. So as long as you're remembered fondly, I guess it's okay."
His favourite music interview, if you must know, was Robert Plant.
"I grew up with Led Zeppelin, it was such a big part of my youth. And to finally meet the guy who was the lead singer of that band -- I was still a fan at that time. And he's the only guy I've really talked to who kind of knocked me out to sit down with," Roberts said.
Following his move to anchor CityPulse news, he got a call in 1988 from the William Morris Agency in New York to send a tape, and a year later he got a job offer to work at a CBS affiliate in Miami. Roberts returned to Canada briefly to co-anchor Canada AM.
Among his two top news interviews are Israeli Prime Minister Yithzak Rabin during his time at Canada AM and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in 1999 while at CBS News. He also counts covering the Iraq war in 2003 and being embedded with the U.S. Marines and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as among his top assignments over the years.
Roberts was at CBS News for 14 years and was widely believed to be a favourite to replace Dan Rather in the CBS Evening News spot but then the network went with veteran newsman Bob Schieffer on an interim basis instead before finally handing Katie Couric the job.
That led to the move to CNN in 2006.
"It's no secret that I was on the short list to succeed Dan Rather but it looked like after Hurricane Katrina and for several other reasons, they were going in a different direction. It quickly became clear to me that there wasn't going to be a place for me there," Roberts said. "CNN has been a terrific place to be ever since."
As for Phillips presence in Toronto, he said she was one of several supporters in town for the ceremony.
"There's a whole group of people who are here, so it's really nice that folks have put out to show up and support me," said Roberts, who become an American citizen on Sept. 21, 2001.
Roberts, who is the recently single-again father of a 23-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter, has a sister and mother who live in Toronto -- but says he doesn't get back home as much as he would like.
"The last time I was here was about 14 months ago. My mom is in a nursing home, she's got Alzheimer's Disease, pretty serious. It's to the point now where even phoning her now doesn't really work too much and she doesn't recognize who I am. But I'm going to have lunch with her (Friday) and check in on her."