Jon Robinson (born 1960) is a former longtime radio and television personality in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. He was also the

public address A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...

announcer for the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

from the team's inception in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

until midway through the 2009 season. He also called the first seven editions of the Meineke Car Care Bowl (known as the Continental Tire Bowl from 2002 to 2004). A native of nearby Gastonia, Robinson graduated from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in 1983 and worked at several Charlotte radio stations before landing the morning drive-time slot at WBT in 1992. In 1997, he moved to then-sister television station

WBTV WBTV (channel 3) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located off Morehead Street, just west of Uptown Charlotte, and its transmitter is ...

as a reporter and fill-in anchor. In 2004, after being passed over for a promotion, he moved to

WCBD-TV WCBD-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW Plus. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station has studios on West Coleman Boulevard ( SC 703) in Mount Pleasant, and its t ...

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

as the main evening anchor. He commuted to Charlotte for the next two years for Panthers games. In 2006, he moved back to Charlotte as morning host at

WDYT WDYT (1220 AM) is a radio station licensed to Kings Mountain, North Carolina, serving the Charlotte metropolitan area. The station is currently owned by Iglesia Nueva Vida of High Point and operated by Core Communications. It simulcasts the urb ...

, a station in nearby Kings Mountain that had recently boosted its daytime power to cover Charlotte. Almost two years into this job, he was diagnosed with

squamous cell carcinoma Squamous-cell carcinomas (SCCs), also known as epidermoid carcinomas, comprise a number of different types of cancer that begin in squamous cells. These cells form on the surface of the skin, on the lining of hollow organs in the body, and on the ...

in his throat. Doctors managed to catch it before it spread, however. Having been laid off from WDYT, he then moved to

WKQC WKQC (104.7 FM) is a commercial radio station in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group and airs a gold-based, 1980s-centric adult contemporary radio format. For most of November and December, it switches to all- ...

as morning host in December 2008. This slot, and his tenure as Panthers PA announcer, ended abruptly in October 2009 when he was arrested for telephoning and texting his estranged second wife in violation of a restraining order. In December 2009, Robinson told ''

The Charlotte Observer ''The Charlotte Observer'' is an American English-language newspaper serving Charlotte, North Carolina, and its metro area. The Observer was founded in 1886. As of 2020, it has the second-largest circulation of any newspaper in the Carolinas. I ...

'' that he'd been abusing drugs almost continuously since he was 12, primarily

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

and

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

. While he tried to quit twice during his tenure at WBT, he had resumed "hot and heavy" abuse since 1998 despite several failed attempts at rehab. He said that his habit got so severe that while he worked in Charleston, he was often high on the air. He lost his job at WCBD soon after getting into a cocaine-fueled street fight, and his second wife left him after a relapse led to a fight at home. His second wife believed his spiral into drug abuse was due to being molested for five years by a man who coached him in basketball.

External links/references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Jon Living people 1960 births People from Gastonia, North Carolina Carolina Panthers National Football League public address announcers South Carolina television anchors