Leslie Roberts, who has been hosting the 9-to-noon show on CJAD 800 for two years, announced on Tuesday morning he will be stepping down from the job at the end of the month. His last show is Dec. 21.
Roberts told Andrew Carter he plans to do some travelling, and has accepted a position with travel website TravelToWellness.com, where he says he’s also been asked to launch a video channel, which he jokingly described as “Travel Travel 2.0” in reference to the former CFCF-12 show he contributed to back in the day.
He said his CJAD contract was expiring but he was asked to stay on a bit longer, and he is in talks with station management to continue to contribute in some capacity, perhaps as a regular panelist or analyst.
Roberts, whose father worked at CJAD, began his career in Montreal, mainly at CFCF, until he was hired first by Global Quebec then by Global Toronto, where he anchored its newscast for 14 years. Roberts resigned from the anchor chair at Global Toronto in 2015 after a Toronto Star investigation found that he owned a PR firm and his clients were appearing on his show without any disclosure.
He was brought in to CJAD in November 2016 to fill the hole left by Tommy Schnurmacher. At the same time, the station fired afternoon host Barry Morgan and upgraded Natasha Hall to his former slot.
UPDATE (Dec. 17): His replacement will be Elias Makos, hired away from Citytv’s Breakfast Television.
To add to your piece on Leslie Roberts…his grandfather was also at CJAD as editorial commentator for many years in the late 50’s and into the 60’s.
(I cannot recall exact dates..worked with him and son Bill Roberts, Leslie Jr’s father).
Sidney Margles
Sadly, who can follow Tommy Schurmacher? Feel sorry for anyone who tries.
Have to disagree with you. Since Tommy’s departure, I started tuning back in to this time slot. Leslie allowed guests, callers to voice their opinions without cutting them off the moment they disagreed. Leslie has been a breath of fresh air the past two years.
Sorry to hear that he is leaving.
Any clue as to who will be replacing him?
I would like to say he will be missed, but how can you miss someone who was hardly there to begin with?
How far away are we from CJAD going syndicated from 10-4 with a local lunch hour?
It’ll be local so long as it makes more sense economically to be local. Adding Evan Solomon showed a willingness to use network programming in daytime, but I don’t think they’ll want to overdo it.
Hopefully not. They lost me as a listener during the 2pm-4pm time slot.
They are probably 20 minutes away from going syndicated. Evan Solomon is boring and I fail to see his attraction. His show, and the idea of syndicated programming is the height of laziness. Bring back Peter Anthony Holder!
It’s a matter of when, not if. My bet is it happens in 2019.
Would CJAD consider a woman to replace Roberts in that coveted slot?
The station is dominated by male hosts. Has a woman ever sat in the morning or drive-home show seats?
They did have a woman in that spot two (possibly three) times. It certainly would make for a nice change.
Two years later, we have the answer to the question: No, Leslie Roberts ain’t the guy to fix CJAD’s morning ratings problems. Moreover, with a personality that screams “I am mailing this in”, Roberts has failed to make significant impact in the community.
I would say he would be missed, but I think he was barely noticed. Not a whole lot of press, not a whole lot of anyone talking about what Leslie said yesterday or what they just heard on the radio. Instead, it’s been two years of not much.
I think more than anything, it’s been two quiet years of cleaning up the mess made at Global.
Exactly how I feel.
I did not find him at all interesting so I can not see this as any big loss. Not a surprise.
Roberts was granted a graceful exit more like it
I live in the Yukon now, but well remember listening to
Leslie Roberts Sr. AND Sidney Margles’ news reports
as a Montreal child in the roaring ’60s!
Much preferred Leslie over his predecessor. A breath of fresh air!
Allowed people to speak their opinions without cutting them off.
He will be missed.
CJAD needs a local conservative talk host. Very tired of their left of center POV. They bring on people with left POV who say stuff that’s never being challenged.
Leslie can now travel the world and continue his “healing” I was tired of his constant effort to try turn every topic into a an excuse to talk about mindfulness and his own personal journey to better mental health, I wish him all the best in future endeavors but I’m not exactly sad hes leaving. Of course now the question begs what will they foist on us now. I have the radio on CJAD ( not wanting music) all day 5am to 4pm so I really hope they find someone I can tolerate.