BBC Good Morning Scotland host Gary Robertson on leaving, Kaye Adams, Tim Davie and impartiality
Gary Robertson has hosted GMS for 19 years
BBC broadcaster Gary Robertson is looking forward to a future of lie-ins, mid-week cinema trips and breakfasts in bed.
After 19 years of waking up to a 4am alarm, he is stepping down from Good Morning Scotland (GMS) as part of a shake-up at BBC Scotland that coincides with a more general period of turmoil at the corporation.
Personally, he says leaving the early morning slot is something he has “wanted to happen for a while”. But Mr Robertson admits that a change in schedule from a crack-of-dawn wake up that required him to be in bed by 9pm every night will be a shock for both him and his partner.
“There's certain things I know my body can't take anymore and that's one of them,” he says. “I think it’s going to be interesting, in terms of life at home as well, just not having to go to bed quite so early, and being able to just do things.
“When you get up at 4am, you can't go to the cinema during the week, you can't drink during the week. It'll be a bit of a change and my partner will have to get used to having me around at breakfast.
“It's still an early start on the weekends, because I'll do Saturday morning as well, so I’ll get up at a reasonably early hour. But I'm slightly intrigued as to how my body's going to respond to this.”
He is, he admits, going to miss elements of the morning show.
“It has been 19 years of doing this day in, day out, but it doesn't feel like that,” he says. “It's just been a succession of interesting, fascinating and sometimes seismic news events. There's never been a dull moment.
“What’s always been one of the most exciting things for me - and I still get that buzz when I walk in the door before five in the morning - is that idea that you're awake and the country is waking up with you, that idea that my voice, or my colleagues’ voices, are the first thing people will hear in the morning.
“Obviously that will go and I will probably miss the cut and thrust of daily news. Because always, when something happens, you think ‘oh, well, tomorrow I'll get a chance to get into that on the radio’. Now, I’ll have to wait a bit longer to for my opportunity to come around at the weekends.”
Mr Robertson has had supportive messages from listeners, many of whom he says have woken up to his voice on the radio for most of their lives. His popularity as a presenter was underscored in 2014, when another shake up saw him initially axed from the broadcaster, only to be reinstated following an outpouring of support from the public.
“For some people, it's like wearing a comfortable jumper,” he says. “But I think also, you know, there will be people who will listen and think, ‘he's done it for long enough’ and want to hear something different. So from the response I've had, people have been very kind and nice about my time on the programme. But at the same time, I feel it's time for change.”
In a time of change for the wider BBC, Mr Robertson knows he and his colleagues will not always have support from all of the public.
When we meet at the BBC’s Scottish headquarters at Glasgow’s Pacific Quay, it is just hours after news of the resignation of director general Tim Davie and chief executive of news Deborah Turness has rocked the corporation.
The pair stepped down in the wake of concerns about impartiality, including how a speech by US president Donald Trump was edited in an episode of Panorama. Mr Trump has since claimed he is going to sue the BBC for $1 billion.
“It’s a funny day to be at the BBC,” Mr Robertson says, carefully. “It’s one of those weird days reporting on people that you know, people you've met.
“But then I guess it's just what we always have to do as journalists. You've got to take a step back, look at it as dispassionately as you can and see it as just another story at the end of the day.”
He also acknowledges a “harder” news environment for the taxpayer-funded corporation in an age of digital radio and podcasts, with the industry changed “beyond recognition” from when he started out in commercial radio.
“There are not enough hours in the day to listen to everything,” he says. “And I think all of that changing market means that we, as the BBC, have to adapt. We have to change to reflect that as well.
“If you asked 100 people on the street, you probably get 100 different views on the BBC. We're living in a time of polarised opinions about everything: politics, gender equality, all kinds of issues. So for people to have polarised views about the BBC wouldn't be a surprise either, particularly. But I know I'm committed, and pretty much speak for all of my colleagues in terms of our commitment, to delivering the best quality output that we can in an impartial way, and hopefully enough people appreciate that to make a difference.”
He adds: “Also, people are paying for the service and they likely expect the highest standards. I don't think that's in any way unreasonable. It's our job to try as best we can to live up to those expectations and those standards.”
This Friday is his final show at the helm of GMS, when he and co-presenter Laura Maxwell will thank the listeners for their loyalty.
He has had 35 years at the BBC, with stints in both Scotland and London, He will then start his new role hosting The Sunday Show, a politics and news programme split between TV and radio on a Sunday morning, at the end of the month.
The changes will also see the launch of a new programme co-hosted by existing BBC presenters Martin Geissler and Laura Maciver. Separately, Kaye Adams, presenter of the Mornings with Kaye Adams show, which immediately follows GMS, has been taken off air pending an investigation amid allegations of bullying of a junior member of staff.
Mr Robertson admits he has spoken with Ms Adams since she was taken off air after October 6, saying the situation is “difficult” for both the presenter and the production team.
“I've had an exchange of messages [with Adams],” he says. “I did message to ask how she was doing. It's obviously a difficult time and the response I got was very much what she said in the newspaper since. I hope she and everybody else involved is OK.”
Ms Adams has insisted publicly the corporation has not provided her with any details of the allegations made against her and has warned her name has been “dragged through the mud”.
Mr Robertson is a strong believer in the impartiality of the BBC, pointing to an outgoing Mr Davie’s commitment to the principle.
He says: “As a journalist, you've just got to do your job to the best of your ability and that's about asking the right questions with a straight bat. We've always, all the time I've been here, been committed to the idea of impartiality, but it's just a case of doubling down on that ultimately and focusing as much as we can on making sure that that's the case.
“Tim Davie already started a lot of this. He said himself [of the Trump issue] that mistakes have been made. So it has to be dealt with. When you're dealing with such a big organisation, then, sadly, mistakes will be made. But I think it's about learning from these mistakes and everybody redoubling their efforts to make sure it doesn't happen.
“For [Davie], the core objective of his time in charge was to focus very much on impartiality and I can't imagine that's going to change under whoever takes over next.”
Who takes over next is a hot topic in Pacific Quay this week. Mr Robertson admits that it “doesn’t seem immediately obvious”.
“All I can tell you is it's not me,” he says. “That's the only thing I can say for certain. It may be it’s time for somebody from outside, but who knows? I wouldn't envy them the task.”
Mr Robertson hopes the Sunday Show will give him scope to be “a bit more reflective” than working in daily news. He wants to blend the initial televised segment closer together with the radio version of the show, which continues for an extra half hour.
He has a wish list of names he would like to interview on the show, but acknowledges that things do not always go according to plan.
“What we do know is, it won't be dull,” he says.
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