Ron Robinson passes away – Stabroek News

Guyana’s cultural and media landscape is today mourning the loss of one of its most enduring voices. Ronald “Ron” Robinson, the acclaimed broadcaster, actor, director, and mentor, passed away around 4:00 a.m. today at his Hadfield Street home. He was 79.

His adopted daughter Lolita Rogers told Stabroek News that Robinson died of natural causes after experiencing several health complications, including heart issues, diabetes, and hypertension.

He had been scheduled to visit his doctor today for blood work. According to her, he began feeling unwell yesterday and had bouts of diarrhea. Early this morning, while attempting to get up to use the washroom, he didn’t make it.

Robinson attended Smith’s Primary School before pressing on to the prestigious Queen’s College. Though he once dreamt of becoming an airline pilot or an Anglican priest, he pursued a call for new broadcasters and out of roughly 100 applicants, he and his friend, the late Matthew Alleyne were selected.

His broadcasting career began at the British Guiana Broadcasting Service on High Street and later continued at Radio Demerara. Over the decades, Robinson became one of the most recognisable voices in Guyanese media, conducting more than 2,000 interviews and hosting numerous radio programmes well into his late seventies.

Robinson also made an indelible mark on the arts. As the artistic director of Merundoi, the popular radio serial drama launched 16 years ago, he helped shape a new era of socially conscious storytelling. He additionally founded a theatre company dedicated to nurturing young and emerging actors, many of whom credit him for their entry into the performing arts.

His lifetime of service was recently recognised with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Office of the Prime Minister on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day.

 

Stabroek News is reprinting below a feature carried on Robinson in the May 18, 2025 edition of the Sunday Stabroek.

As he approaches six decades in radio — officially marking the anniversary on August 1 — veteran broadcaster Ronald ‘Ron’ Robinson cannot help but feel deeply humbled. His journey began on Emancipation Day, 1965, just one year before Guyana gained independence. He often says that radio emancipated him that year.

As a child, Robinson wasn’t able to speak until after age two. His parents, concerned about his silence, took him to doctors, but it was his older brother—two years his senior—who patiently helped him to find his voice.

Had someone told his mother then that he would become a broadcaster, she likely would have laughed in disbelief. “I often joke that I took a long time to start talking, but I’ve more than made up for it since,” he told Stabroek Weekend recently in an interview at the newspaper’s Robb Street, Georgetown office.

Beginning his education at Smith’s Primary School before pressing on to Queen’s College, Robinson originally dreamt of becoming either an airline pilot or an Anglican priest. When those paths didn’t materialise, he stumbled across a notice seeking new broadcasters. Out of around 100 applicants, he and the late Matthew Alleyne applied together and were among the few selected.

Thinking back, Robinson realised that he had always been captivated by radio—the warmth, the clarity, and the popular radio personalities back in the day. “I would listen and wonder, could I do that too? When the opportunity finally came, it was thrilling,” he recalled. His broadcasting career began at the British Guiana Broadcasting Service on High Street, later Radio Demerara. Throughout his career, he’s always held to the principle that better can always be done and that he should strive to improve continuously.

The father of two eventually became the artistic director of Merundoi, a radio serial drama that started 16 years ago, and he also founded a theatre company that has played a major role in helping young and upcoming actors.

Redefining media

Robinson said the current state of radio in Guyana worries him. The level of professionalism has declined significantly, he observed. When he began, he was trained to be well-rounded and discipline was non-negotiable. They were expected to report 15 minutes before their shift, and all new broadcasters served a mandatory three-month probation—regardless of their talent or experience. From day one, there were standards to uphold, Robinson reflected. 

Sadly, he noted that many of those standards are missing today. He joked that much of what he hears now are DJs shouting, often adopting exaggerated Jamaican accents, talking about the “west sideeee” rather than offering substance. “I’ve asked them: Why are you shouting? If I were in pain, recovering from surgery, would I want someone shouting at me through the radio? If you came into my home shouting, I’d show you the door,” he said.

Robinson believes that a broadcaster is a companion to the listener—not a disruption. “So if [President Irfaan Ali] says we need to redefine media, I think he also has to say we, the government, have to redefine our attitude to media. So once he’s gonna do that, I think it will be for the betterment of the media on the whole, but he has to go all the way,” he stated.

Over the years, Robinson has conducted more than 2,000 interviews and still hosts about five radio programmes a week. “The good Lord has to retire me. Once He gives me the strength and ability, it is up to Him as to when I would retire. I will be told; my body will tell me I’ve had enough.”

A responsibility to listeners

To those entering radio, Robinson advised: “You have a responsibility to your listener. It is your listener who makes or breaks you. If they stop listening, you might as well give up. So you have to consider your listeners and the only way to do that properly is to be prepared to entertain them, educate them. I’d advise anyone getting into radio to approach it with humility; there’s a lot for you to learn. Aim to improve every time. Eventually you will find all the little faults.”

Now 79, Robinson, who remains a lifelong resident of Hadfield Street, Georgetown, recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Office of the Prime Minister on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day.

In accepting the award, he was quoted as saying: “When your country or a major organisation bestows on you an honour as prestigious as a Lifetime Achievement Award, you’re humbled. It is indeed with humility that I accept this award… I admit that 60 years may seem long to many, but I say it has been six decades of my life filled with a career driven by a passion to be nothing but the best.”

Reflecting on his career, he acknowledged the opportunities broadcasting afforded him, including meeting notable Guyanese figures, presidents, government and religious leaders, and international icons such as Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson and Jim Jones.

He expressed gratitude to veteran broadcasters like Rafiq Khan, Pat Cameron and Ray Robinson, whom he credited as mentors who helped shape his early career. Sharing one of his most memorable moments, he recalled, “There is one person I can never forget, the Chief Grave Digger at Le Repentir Cemetery, known as Bishop Brown. He told me he knew the prayers for all religions and would recite them when the officiant didn’t show. But what made him more memorable was when he told me he’s not the Chief Grave Digger, but the Supervisor of Burial Engineers.”

Robinson ended by affirming his belief in the vital role of the press, stating that as Guyana looks toward a promising future, it “is dependent to a great extent on the inputs and efforts of good media personnel, who must be allowed to enquire and report without bias or affiliation.”