Alastair Kenneth Yates (3 September 1952 – 26 July 2018) was an English

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

, for over 20 years with the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, on

BBC World News BBC News is an international English-language pay television channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd. – a subsidiary of BBC Studios – and operated by the BBC News division of the BBC. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, an ...

and

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

. Born 3 September 1952 and brought up in

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

, Yates was educated at Manor House School, Ashby-de-la-Zouch and the former

Burton Grammar School Abbot Beyne School is a comprehensive school in Burton upon Trent in east Staffordshire, England. It was created after the Burton Grammar School was abolished and initially educated the remaining pupils from Burton Grammar School and Burton Gi ...

. Before deciding on journalism as a career Yates was a circuit DJ and was MD of his own entertainments company which managed clubs and pop groups. Yates, under the pseudonym Al Kay, got his broadcasting break when he began a weekly Saturday morning pop show on Radio Derby in 1973. That same station offered him the chance to move away from music-based shows to speech programming. He was a current affairs and news host at BBC Local Radio stations in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. He made his debut TV appearance at Pebble Mill in Birmingham in 1978 presenting news bulletins for BBC Midlands's regional news programme ''

Midlands Today ''BBC Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands (region), West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza. Overview ...

''. Whilst at BBC Midlands, Yates was also a regional continuity announcer. He also appeared in some "Play for Today" dramas as himself; and hosted an inventions programme called Eureka. In 1980 he was at

Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and which, decades later, was merged with the Central Belt channel STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isle ...

in Aberdeen, Scotland as presenter and reporter for '' North Tonight''. In 1986 he was presenting Anglia Television's evening news show ''

About Anglia ''About Anglia'' is a regional news magazine programme produced by Anglia Television in the east of England, broadcast for over thirty years from 2 June 1960 to 6 July 1990. History One of the first regional programmes of its kind on ITV, ''A ...

.'' Yates joined Sky Television from its launch in 1989, becoming the first male presenter on

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

. In 1992 he helped to launch

BBC World Service Television BBC World Service Television, often abbreviated to WSTV (World Service Television), was the name of two BBC international satellite television channels between 1991 and 1995. It was the BBC's first foray into worldwide television broadcasting. In ...

and stayed in his post for the re-launch to BBC World in 1995. In 1997 he was part of the launch team for BBC News 24 (now the BBC News Channel). He took a couple of years out from BBC News in 1998 to become an anchor on

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

in Germany. He returned to the

in 2001, again to appear on both BBC World News and the BBC News Channel. He was to return to radio in 2013 when he joined Global Radio to produce and present news for Classic FM and Smooth Radio. Yates died on 26 July 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Alastair 1952 births 2018 deaths BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC World News Sky News newsreaders and journalists English television journalists People from Burton upon Trent STV News newsreaders and journalists