Leslie Roberts
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| Leslie Roberts | |
| Born | 1962 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Canadian radio broadcaster, Television host. |
| Children | One Daughter - 23 years-old |
| Parents | Yes |
Leslie Roberts (b. 1962) is a Canadian journalist and TV personality, primarily from his position as the anchor for Global Ontario's News Hour from 6-7 p.m. He is also the host and successor to Bill Carroll's 10 a.m. - 11:50 a.m. shift on CFRB Radio in Toronto.
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[edit] History and family
As a child, Roberts grew in up in a family full of journalists, stating "...it was not unusual to have both journalists and politicians at our dinner table." Roberts' great-grandfather John H. Roberts founded and ran a controversial reformist Montreal tabloid newspaper called The Axe,[1] between 1922-24 and his grandfather and namesake was a writer and journalist, while his father (Bill) was a morning-man for Montreal's CJAD for 20 years. His mother was an assistant to a federal MP. Roberts' brother, Rob, is Toronto editor at one of Canada's major newspapers, The National Post.
At the age of 18, Leslie found himself interning at a radio newsroom, specifically covering the 1980 Quebec referendum and having the opportunity to interview Rene Levesque. After finishing school, he was immediately recruited in 1985 as a medical reporter for CFCF-TV, the CTV affiliate in Montreal. At CFCF for twelve years, Roberts found himself on a variety of different segments from travel to morning talk shows.
In 1995 a tape of an interview he conducted on his Morning TV show "Montreal Today With Leslie Roberts" landed on the desk of an agent in L.A. Within six months he was offered a position with the TV tabloid show "A Current Affair". A year later he moved to FOX as a Reporter/Anchor for WNYW in New York City. Three years later Roberts answered a call from CFCF to return home as Anchor/Host of several shows. It allowed him to be closer to his daughter, Lauren. In 2000, The Global Television Network came calling. He was news director and senior anchor at Global Quebec until Global offered a position on the anchor desk in Toronto.
[edit] Present work
In September of 2001, Leslie was recruited by CanWest's Toronto division to be a co-anchor with Beverly Thomson (who has since moved on to CTV), citing that the two of them were an ideal pairing for this broadcast. Roberts arrived just a week before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The news team included meteorologist Michael Kuss (now at CITY-TV) and sports director Jim Tatti. In 2008, Roberts continues working at News Hour on Global. His current coanchor is Anne-Marie Mediwake. He hosts The Leslie Roberts Show from 10 a.m. to noon on CFRB. Adult listeners of The Leslie Roberts Show have increased 40.2% in the Fall BBM Ratings. Female listeners of the show aged 25-54 have increased 174% in the Winter BBM Ratings.
