Clive Alexander Robertson (28 December 1945 – 1 December 2024) was an Australian radio and television presenter in Sydney who was heard on both the AM and FM bands for over 40 years.

Early life

Robertson was born in

Katoomba, New South Wales Katoomba is the main town and council seat of the City of Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, and is the administrative centre of City of Blue Mountains, Blue Mountains City Council. Situated on the Great Western Highway and the Main ...

, in 1945. He left school at the age of 16 to begin work on a farm (including his beloved "

Massey-Harris Massey Ferguson is an agricultural machinery manufacturer, established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson-Brown Company, Ferguson Company of Ireland. It was based in Coventry then moved t ...

tractor"), going on to work for his father (a lawyer), later doing court work, and then moving on to become an electrical apprentice as well as running wires for the

Postmaster-General's Department The Postmaster-General's Department (PMG) was a department of the Australian federal government, established at Federation in 1901, whose responsibilities included the provision of postal and telegraphic services throughout Australia. It was ...

. He later worked on the railways cleaning

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

, and also driving them from time to time, which would fuel a lifelong fascination with them.

Career

In 1967 with the advent of

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

, Robertson began his broadcasting career working at a number of stations in the southwest of Western Australia. In 1972 he joined the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

(ABC) in Sydney, beginning on the radio station 2BL. He moved to Canberra a few months later and worked on 2CY and 2CN. A well known part of his breakfast show on 2BL was his daily ''tête-à-tête'' with either Caroline Jones or

Margaret Throsby Margaret Ellen Throsby AM, (born 1941) is an Australian radio and television broadcaster. She is known for having interviewed thousands of notable people for Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio programs. Early life Margaret Ellen Throsb ...

. He also presented the 7 pm television news for the ABC. In 1980, he worked at 2DAY-FM, but returned to the ABC some months later. From 1982 to 1988 he was host of the ''

Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...

'' television talk show on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

. Leaving ABC radio, he then moved to the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

where he hosted the news program '' 11AM'', and in 1985 became the host of ''Newsworld''. Robertson took a unique approach to ''Newsworld'', and his later news show on the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

, ''Robbo's World Tonight'': Over the years Robertson has also presented radio programs on 6VA, 6TZ, 6IX,

2UE 2UE is an all-music radio station in Sydney owned by Nine Entertainment and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. It currently broadcasts from its studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales. History 1920s 2EU Electrical Utilities applied to the P ...

, 2GB,

2SM 2SM is an Australian radio station, licensed to and serving Sydney, broadcasting on 1269 kilohertz on the AM band. It is owned and operated by Broadcast Operations Group. The SM call sign is taken from the initials of Saint Mary's. 2SM's prog ...

and

ABC Classic FM ABC Classic, formerly ABC-FM (also ABC Fine Music), and then ABC Classic FM, is an Australian classical music radio station available in Australia and internationally. Its website features classical music news, features and listening guides. I ...

, as well as TV station

STW-9 STW is an Australian television station owned by the Nine Network that is based in Perth, Western Australia. ''STW'' broadcasts from a shared facility transmitter mast located in Carmel. The station callsign, ''STW'', is an acronym of Swan Tel ...

and

. In 2006 he returned to national TV screens on the

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

show ''Agony Aunts''. Robertson filled in for

Stan Zemanek Stan Zemanek (29 May 1947 – 12 July 2007) was an Australian shock jock, radio broadcaster, television presenter, radio producer and author who presented a night-time show on The Macquarie Network station 2UE in Sydney and which was networked ...

on 2UE from 8 pm to midnight just prior to Christmas in 2006. After the new year, he was moved to the midnight to dawn overnight timeslot. Robertson left 2UE in March 2008, not able to cope with the hours, but returned to 3 pm to 6 pm on weekend afternoons, and later the 2UE ''Nights'' program (8:00 pm to 12:00 am).

On-air personality

Robertson was known for his wry wit and humorous dealings with talk-back callers, and his outspoken manner. He said that Perth radio station 6IX fired him because he would not use the station's slogan, "Have a happy day". During his late-night TV news, he once showed the weather forecast displayed on a board. Beside "Brisbane" was the word "pooey". In his morning programme on ABC Classic FM, he occasionally talked with the show's producer, Ivan Lloyd, the man who selected the music each day. Although Robertson claimed to be untrained in Classical music, his interest and enthusiasm was obvious and he was especially fond of string quartets. In his talk between pieces of music, he sometimes referred to his lawn mowing at home, and revealed that his lawn mower was, naturally, named "Lorna", or "Lawner", but he then explained this should not be confused with "Lorna" who managed the ABC's music library and helped with selecting pieces to be played.

Personal life and death

Robertson was married twice. His second marriage was to actress

Penny Cook Penelope Cook (13 July 1957 – 26 December 2018) was an Australian actress, stage director, TV presenter and writer. She played roles in the soap opera ''A Country Practice'', as Vicki Dean Bowen from 1981 to 1985, '' E Street'' as lead anchor ...

. Both marriages ended in divorce. Clive Robertson died aged 78 on Sunday, 1 December 2024 after a battle with cancer.Weekly Times
/ref> His death was not publicly revealed until 12 December.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Clive 1945 births 2024 deaths Classical music radio presenters Australian talk radio hosts Australian television personalities Radio personalities from Sydney People from Katoomba, New South Wales ABC radio (Australia) journalists and presenters Former 2GB presenters