During most of Robinson's tenure, ABC News used the Westar satellite to feed Robinson's segment of "WNT" from Chicago to New York. TVRO receiver earth stations were also coming into use at the time, and anyone who knew where to find the satellite feeds could view the feed. On the live feed, Robinson could be seen to have a drink or two, but never during the actual aired segment, which led some bars around the country to even have drink specials during the nearly 90 minutes, and invited patrons to come in and see the "Max 'R'" feed. ABC eventually caught on to what was happening, and even resorted to hide what was going on by supering a slide with the words "ABC News Chicago" on the screen during the live feed during times that Robinson was not live over the actual WNT broadcast. In addition, Robinson could often be seen being harsh towards those who worked around him during the live feed. Reynolds died in 1983, and shortly afterward Jennings was named sole anchor of "World News Tonight." Robinson was relegated to the weekend anchor post, as well as reading hourly news briefs. He left ABC in 1983, and joined WMAQ-TV in Chicago in March 1984; he was the station's first black anchor. But his tenure with the station was rocky, and he had conflicts with some of his colleagues. He was also frequently absent. Robinson retired in 1985.