- Garland Robinette
Garland Robinette (born in
Boutte, Louisiana ca. 1943) is a journalist in theNew Orleans area. He currently is host of "The Think Tank" on New Orleansradio stationWWL (AM) .Robinette was a news anchor and investigative reporter on New Orleans TV station
WWL-TV Channel 4 for twenty years (1970 until August 8, 1990). After leaving the TV station, Robinette served as head ofpublic relations forFreeport McMoran in New Orleans before starting his own firm. He returned to the media in 2005 onWWL (AM) as a fill-in for David Tyree, a popular host stricken with cancer. The position became permanent when Tyree succumbed several weeks afterHurricane Katrina .Nagin interview
Robinette came to national attention with
Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The WWL radio station was for a time the only one able to continue to broadcast during the disaster; for a time Robinette was broadcasting from a hastily thrown together studio in a closet after the building's windows blew out. In the days between the hurricane and when outside help arrived, his broadcasts were an important information source for those able to hear radio broadcasts inGreater New Orleans . OnSeptember 2 ,2005 , Robinette conducted the famous interview with MayorRay Nagin where the mayor urged those in the Federal Government who had been promising but not delivering aid to "get off your asses".Robinette is one of the interview subjects in "
When the Levees Broke ", the 2006Spike Lee documentary about theeffect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans . He also appears alongside Angela Hill, his formerwife , in "Hexing A Hurricane ", a documentary about the first six months in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.Trivia
* Robinette, a native of the
Louisiana bayou country , is a veteran of theVietnam War .* In 1988, Robinette was caught attempting to enter the Republican National Convention, which was held in the
Louisiana Superdome , with a concealedfirearm in hisbriefcase .* Robinette is also an artist -- known particularly for his portraits. He studied at the
New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts .* On his radio show on 25 October, 2006, Robinette advocated the use of
nuclear weapons in an attempt to end theIraq war .* On his radio show on 28 May, 2008, Robinette vigorously defended his position that, just like a janitor, the President of the United States, needs no experience and can rely on experts and training in this position.
* Angela Hill still works as an anchor at WWL-TV; when they were husband and wife for 9 years (
1978 -1987 ), Robinette and Hill were paired, just asJim Lampley andBree Walker were atKCBS-TV inLos Angeles under similar circumstances.* His last name means, roughly, "little bright fame," ironic considering that he became very famous after Hurricane Katrina. [http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=10&ln=ROBINETTE&fn=&yr=1920]
* sometimes mistakenly called "Robin Garlanett", and jokingly refers to himself by using this moniker at times.
External links
* [http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/nagin.transcript/ Transcript of Robinette/Nagin interview]
* [http://www.robinettestudios.com/ www.robinettestudios.com]
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