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Harvey And Lloyd Singing From The Same Page
It was on this date in 1976 that Harvey Kirk and Lloyd Robertson co-anchored the CTV National news for the first time. In the summer of '76 CTV dropped a bombshell announcing that Robertson would be leaving CBC and moving to CTV in the fall. Harvey Kirk was to remain on the 11pm news and he would co-anchor with Robertson.
CBC was beating CTV news at 11 in the ratings and with this announcement the private network proved they were serious about claiming the crown.
Lloyd was paid $100,000 per year to come over to CTV, and the network increased Kirk's pay to match what they were offering the new anchor.
The union proved successful, CTV soon surpassed CBC at 11pm. Contrary to some rumours, Lloyd and Harvey actually got along well and became friends. The two worked together for 11 years until Harvey retired in 1987. Kirk still appeared on the network with the odd special and as a reporter for W5 from time to time.
After 41 years as an anchor and 35 at CTV Lloyd Robertson retired on September 1, 2011. Like Harvey he still appeared on W5 and the occasional special.
Last edited by paterson1 (October 18, 2023 11:14 am)
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Re: Harvey And Lloyd Singing From The Same Page
One slight correction - it's Harvey Kirck, with a "c" before the final "k."
The CBC did a report on the day this was announced and in it, Robertson makes it clear he's not leaving for more money but for the chance to write his own copy, which the CBC did not allow. And you gotta love the Corp.'s then-News Director Knowlton Nash saying, "I wish him luck - but not too much!"
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Re: Harvey And Lloyd Singing From The Same Page
Apparently Lloyd initially wasn't the greatest writer when he got the chance to write some of the news copy. On the other hand Kirck was one of the best. Interesting that CTV offered Robertson double what he was making at CBC. Years later, union rules became more flexible and CBC anchors had more freedom with writing of the news and news reporting.
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Thread Starter- MJ Vancouver
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Re: Harvey And Lloyd Singing From The Same Page
Somewhere in a large stack of VHS tapes in my parents’ basement I have a recording of Lloyd’s 25th anniversary special at CTV, which was broadcast in December 2001. In that special Harvey Kirck visited CTV and was on-set with Lloyd again, reminiscing about their years together. It was also likely Harvey’s last TV appearance, as he passed away only two months later in February 2002.
That special also includes Lloyd paying a visit to Peter Jennings at ABC News in New York, where they talked about their experiences as news anchors on 9/11 which had just occurred three months earlier at the time.
Betty Fox, the mother of Terry Fox, as well as Knowlton Nash and Jean Chrétien were also guests.
If I can ever find that tape I want to capture it and get it on YouTube as I’ve never seen it there and I think it would be of a lot of interest.
Last edited by MJ Vancouver (October 18, 2023 4:57 pm)
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Re: Harvey And Lloyd Singing From The Same Page
Harvey was a CHUM newsman prior to the launch of Top 40 in May 1957. He was Harve Kirk then (no 'c' in Kirk). He left CHUM for a TV anchor job at CHCH in 1960.
Last edited by Doug Thompson (October 18, 2023 5:02 pm)
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Re: Harvey And Lloyd Singing From The Same Page
MJ Vancouver wrote:
Somewhere in a large stack of VHS tapes in my parents’ basement I have a recording of Lloyd’s 25th anniversary special at CTV, which was broadcast in December 2001. In that special Harvey Kirck visited CTV and was on-set with Lloyd again, reminiscing about their years together. It was also likely Harvey’s last TV appearance, as he passed away only two months later in February 2002.
That special also includes Lloyd paying a visit to Peter Jennings at ABC News in New York, where they talked about their experiences as news anchors on 9/11 which had just occurred three months earlier at the time.
Betty Fox, the mother of Terry Fox, as well as Knowlton Nash and Jean Chrétien were also guests.
If I can ever find that tape I want to capture it and get it on YouTube as I’ve never seen it there and I think it would be of a lot of interest.
Sounds like it would be a interesting tape to see MJ. Hope you can find it someday and get it on You Tube.
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Thread Starter- BowmanvilleBob
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Re: Harvey And Lloyd Singing From The Same Page
Harvey was a CHUM newsman prior to the launch of Top 40 in May 1957. He was Harve Kirk then (no 'c' in Kirk). He left CHUM for a TV anchor job at CHCH in 1960.
Big Harv's career is a master class in resilience. After joining CHCH, he was laid-off as the main anchor and had to take a newswriting job at CFTO to make ends meet. However, as he pointed out in his autobiography "Nobody Calls Me Mr. Kirck", his newswriting chops and his ability to make quick decisions under pressure soon gave him more authority in the newsroom, and eventually led to him joining CTV National News in 1963.
The book is long out of print these days. But I still have my copy and it makes fascinating reading. Harv was candid about his battles with the grape and the tensions his career caused in his personal life. He recalled the night in the 1970s when the control room lost the feed from Ottawa, which had been expected to provide more than 10 minutes of video for the newscast. Staff members scrambled to rewrite wire stories to fill the gap and literally crawled up to the anchor desk to shove their copy into a pile, which Harv dutifully read until he was able to sign off. Unfortunately, that was the night The Canadian Magazine had chosen to do a cover story on CBC/CTV's national newscasts and the whole episode became the stuff of legend when it hit the newsstands.
Last edited by BowmanvilleBob (October 18, 2023 10:52 pm)