Alastair Kenneth Yates (3 September 1952 – 26 July 2018) was an English

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

, for over 20 years with the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, on

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...

and

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

. Born 3 September 1952 and brought up in

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011, it had a ...

, Yates was educated at Manor House School, Ashby-de-la-Zouch and the former

Burton Grammar School Abbot Beyne School is a comprehensive school in Burton upon Trent in east Staffordshire, England. It was created after the Burton Grammar School was phased out and initially educated the remaining pupils from Burton Grammar School and Burton G ...

. Before deciding on

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

as a career Yates was a circuit DJ and was MD of his own entertainments company which managed clubs and pop groups. In 1992 he helped to launch

BBC World Service Television BBC World Service Television, often abbreviated to WSTV (World Service Television), was the name of two BBC international satellite television channels between 1991 and 1995. It was the BBC's first foray into worldwide television broadcasting. In ...

and stayed in his post for the re-launch to BBC World in 1995. In 1997 he was part of the launch team for BBC News 24 (now the BBC News Channel). He took a couple of years out from BBC News in 1998 to become an anchor on

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

in Germany. He returned to the

in 2001, again to appear on both BBC World News and the BBC News Channel. Yates joined Sky Television from its launch in 1989, becoming the first male presenter on

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

. Prior to Sky News, he was with ITV: in 1986 he was presenting

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

's evening news show ''

About Anglia ''About Anglia'' was a regional news magazine programme produced by Anglia Television in the east of England, broadcast for over thirty years from 2 June 1960 to 6 July 1990. History One of the first regional programmes of its kind in the ITV, ...

.'' In 1980 he was at

Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and now named STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isles, Western Isles, Highlands (except Fort William and ...

in Aberdeen, Scotland as presenter and reporter for ''

North Tonight ''North Tonight'' is a Scottish nightly regional news programme covering the North of Scotland, produced by STV North (formerly Grampian Television). History During the late 1960s and 1970s, Grampian's regional news service consisted of daily ...

''. He made his debut TV appearance at Pebble Mill in Birmingham in 1978 presenting news bulletins for

BBC Midlands BBC Midlands may refer to: *BBC East Midlands, the BBC English Region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland, headquartered in Nottingham *BBC West Midlands BBC Midlands (known as the Midland Region from 1927 until c. 1 ...

's regional news programme ''

Midlands Today ''Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza. Overview ''Midlands Today'' is produc ...

''. Whilst at BBC Midlands, Yates was also a regional continuity announcer. He also appeared in some "Play for Today" dramas as himself; and hosted an inventions programme called Eureka. He began his journalism career in radio: he was a current affairs & news host at

BBC Local Radio BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of forty stations. History The popularity of pirate radio was to challenge a change within ...

stations in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. He was to return to radio in 2013 when he joined Global Radio to produce and present news for Classic FM and Smooth Radio. Yates, under the pseudonym Al Kay, got his broadcasting break when he began a weekly Saturday morning pop show on Radio Derby in 1973. That same station offered him the chance to move away from music-based shows to speech programming. Yates died on 26 July 2018 at the age of 65.

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Alastair 1952 births 2018 deaths BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC World News Sky News newsreaders and journalists British television journalists People from Burton upon Trent STV News newsreaders and journalists