Max Robinson

Biography Early life and education Robinson was born the second of four children (a sister Jewell, who became a teacher; brother Randall, a Harvard-educated lawyer; and sister Jean, a publicist), of Maxie, a teacher after graduating from Armstrong High School, Robinson attended Oberlin College, Robinson briefly served in the United States Air Force and was assigned to the Russian Language School at Indiana University Bloomington before receiving a medical discharge. He began working in radio early on, including a short time at WSSV-AM in Petersburg, Virginia, where he called himself "Max the Player", and later at WANT-AM, Richmond.

Career Robinson began his television career in 1959, when he was hired for a news job at WTOV-TV in Portsmouth, Virginia. He later went to WRC-TV in Washington, DC, and stayed for three years, winning six journalism awards for coverage of civil-rights events such as the riots that followed the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was during this time that Robinson won two regional Emmys for a documentary he made on black life in Anacostia entitled The Other Washington. In 1969, Robinson joined the Eyewitness News team at WTOP-TV (now WUSA-TV) in Washington, D.C.

During most of Robinson's tenure, ABC News used the Westar satellite to feed Robinson's segment of WNT from Chicago to New York. TVRO receiver earth stations were also coming into use at the time, and anyone who knew where to find the satellite feeds could view the feed. On the live feed, Robinson could be seen to have a drink or two, but never during the actual aired segment, which led some bars around the country to even have drink specials during the nearly 90 minutes, and invited patrons to come in and see the "Max 'R'" feed. ABC eventually caught on to what was happening, and even resorted to hide what was going on by supering a slide with the words "ABC News Chicago" on the screen during the live feed during times that Robinson was not live over the actual WNT broadcast. In addition, Robinson could often be seen being harsh towards people who worked around him during the live feed. Reynolds died in 1983, and shortly afterward Jennings was named sole anchor of World News Tonight; Robinson was relegated to the weekend anchor post, as well as reading hourly news briefs.

Robinson left ABC in 1983 and joined WMAQ-TV in Chicago in March 1984; he was the station's first black anchor. His tenure with the station was rocky, and he had conflicts with some of his colleagues. He was also frequently absent. He was fired from the network after attending a work-related event and never returning to the office. He had entered a drug treatment program at Hazelden, though allegedly without informing his superiors. He had asked his family to reveal that he had AIDS so that, according to the new reports, "Others in the black community would be alerted to the dangers and the need for treatment and education." He was buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland.