How was CBC's coverage in the 80s?

danderson400

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May 21, 2015
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i know it is something i've read in a book but wasn't John Shannon fired for the same reason as Dave Hodge?(resisting CBC's demand that they go to The National after a series clinching game?) he didn't want to, but CBC kept telling him to go to the news and he refused and he got canned.(the fact that CBC insisted that the start of its nightly news not be delayed by even three minutes to finish a game caused two employees to get fired for not liking or defying that policy) the incident with the curling match in 87 and then the Habs/Flyers game the same night i guess caused CBC to rethink that policy, and also to make sure all HNIC games were finished before The National.
 
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danderson400

Registered User
May 21, 2015
166
8
They would split the country and MacLean would say this game is being seen in Ottawa-to the west and Montreal is being seen from Montreal to the east.

I had access to a C-Band dish 25 years ago and the 2 CBC channels that were in the clear in the US were CBC-North and CBC-Montreal. The Montreal station had weird commercials from a leather store called Dimitri.
There were 3 CBC feeds i could get on the big dish at that time- Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver. In 1996, i remember seeing the Blackhawks/Flames and Avs/Canucks series on the Vancouver one. The Rangers/Habs one was on the Montreal one. I was able to watch most of Jets/Red Wings too.
 

MSSLYNX

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Jul 27, 2009
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Good old days of Anik, Galaxy 1,2,3, etc. Could hear the broadcasters speak during intermissions and you would get the images live and uncensored from the team rooms after the games.

Had to shovel the snow out of it though and we get lots of snow here.
 

karnige

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Oct 18, 2006
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Growing up in the late 80's in Edmonton I remember there was an information hotline you could phone for news, weather and sports. They'd update it every hour for game scores and that was as good as it got back then. Now if it takes more than 5 seconds to open a new page I completely lose my ****.:laugh:

I remember using that same hotline to get updates on the Lindros trade when they were ruling whether he'd been traded to NYR or PHI. Painful.
ditto I would call this hotline to find out the scores. it was like 2 bucks a minute. it was my treat for being good. seriously I was excited. just to listen who won a game! oh how it's changed
 
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Iapyi

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i saw dave hodge at the Grey Cup game in regina in 1995 and told him he was the best pen flipper in the world. he got a real kick out of it and thanked me.

dick irvin was unbearable.
 

danderson400

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May 21, 2015
166
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Good old days of Anik, Galaxy 1,2,3, etc. Could hear the broadcasters speak during intermissions and you would get the images live and uncensored from the team rooms after the games.

Had to shovel the snow out of it though and we get lots of snow here.
Loved those feeds too. After the Blackhawks/Flames series ended in a sweep in 96, could see the dejected Flames entering the locker room. The Saddledome was eerily quiet too.
 

MSSLYNX

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Jul 27, 2009
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Hextall breaking everything around him after defeats was so funny.
Remember when Flyers would warm up Chico Resch just so Hextall would cool off just to return him after the warm up time was up? Or when he was restrained from getting into the pre-game brawl in Mtl? We could get off-air images and sound.
Had to reprogram the equipment daily with if i remember well a 10 digit number combo to get all of it. Was legal but very underground.
 

Sniper99

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Jan 12, 2011
12,398
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regardless of who was playing--they were obligated to talk about the leafs at least five minutes a period
No they didnt, what was there to talk about on the Leafs back in the 80's other than a young Wendel Clark? Not much, they were always getting their *** kicked by the Oilers in the 80's or the getting lit up by a young Yzerman.
 

karnige

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Oct 18, 2006
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No they didnt, what was there to talk about on the Leafs back in the 80's other than a young Wendel Clark? Not much, they were always getting their *** kicked by the Oilers in the 80's or the getting lit up by a young Yzerman.
the leafs were mentioned non stop. always. even though the oilers were the team to beat it was always leafs. always has been. they dominate the masses
 

blood gin

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Jan 17, 2017
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No they didnt, what was there to talk about on the Leafs back in the 80's other than a young Wendel Clark? Not much, they were always getting their *** kicked by the Oilers in the 80's or the getting lit up by a young Yzerman.

Well to be fair Rick Vaive did score 50 goals 3 consecutive years

And they did win a few playoff series
 

pucky

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Jan 11, 2011
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That's a load of crap, the Leafs were a non entity in the 80's. Even in Toronto no one wore Leaf jerseys and there were times in which Edmonton or Montreal was the main game and that's the game which would be shown in Toronto

Don't let your Leaf hate kill your reputation on here bud, cause that was an outright lie
The Leafs were a joke in the 80s and some fans would wear paper bags over their heads. CBC etc. would actually promote the other Canadian franchises and there was a lot of hype for the Canadiens and Oilers among other clubs.

The Leafs are owned by both telecommunications companies in Canada and both control the TV networks that show hockey so you are going to get Leafs 24/7 no matter who is playing nowadays.
 

LeafFever

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Feb 12, 2016
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It was very, very Habs focused. And unlike most, I am old enough to comment on it.
 

LeafFever

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They did sell out every night despite the terrible results.
 
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danderson400

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May 21, 2015
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To add to what I've said- they would always show a map of where each game aired- so that way i knew which feeds to look for.
 

Fenway

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CBC had a workaround in the Toronto area where they would put a second game on CHEX-TV in Peterborough

CHEX-DT - Wikipedia

For decades, cable systems in Peterborough have carried CBC flagship CBLT in Toronto alongside CHEX. Due to this unique situation, CHEX-TV was frequently used during Hockey Night in Canada to air alternate games. During the 1970s and 1980s, CHEX would often air games from the Montreal Canadiensover the geographically closer Toronto Maple Leafs. During the 2000s and early 2010s, CHEX was also used by the CBC as an overflow channel for its regional coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs—in the event of scheduling conflicts between games in series which CBC held rights to, the game of greater national interest would be carried across the network, while the other game would be carried exclusively by CHEX, and simulcast on the CBC Sports website. This practice ended following the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, as the CBC's rights are now sub-licensed from Rogers Communications and any conflicting games are reassigned to other Rogers-owned channels.
 

TheMoreYouKnow

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May 3, 2007
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During those pre-internet days during the playoffs, you'd have to watch the entire show to hear the out-of-town scores. Then after the game you'd sit by the radio, waiting for the scores to be mentioned. And you liked it!

When I lived in Europe back in the day the only way to get the previous night's NHL scores before they'd be printed in the Misc. section of the newspaper's sports section a day later was via the teletext service. Teletext was a news service you could access on your TV via a button on your remote control. It looked like this:

344_1.png


It typically featured the programming of the specific channel, the weather forecast, world and local news and finally sports results. In that sense it was a bit like a news channel's website, except very clunky to use via your remote control and rather limited to the basics.

Every morning the NHL results would be updated on the public TV channel's teletext at around 7:14 am (It was the only channel to include NHL scores in their service). The late West Coast games usually finished around 6.40 ish local time. Every morning I'd sit there waiting for the update just before having to leave for school.
 

danderson400

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May 21, 2015
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It makes me wonder why in the 90s why CBC would always immediately switch to The National rather than pick up the American feed of an overtime game? The one time i remember it not happening was Game 4 of Devils Bruins in 94, but that was a Saturday Night. Maybe they had someone at Boston Garden(Ken Daniels?)
 

MarkusKetterer

Shoulda got one game in
CBC had a workaround in the Toronto area where they would put a second game on CHEX-TV in Peterborough

CHEX-DT - Wikipedia

For decades, cable systems in Peterborough have carried CBC flagship CBLT in Toronto alongside CHEX. Due to this unique situation, CHEX-TV was frequently used during Hockey Night in Canada to air alternate games. During the 1970s and 1980s, CHEX would often air games from the Montreal Canadiensover the geographically closer Toronto Maple Leafs. During the 2000s and early 2010s, CHEX was also used by the CBC as an overflow channel for its regional coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs—in the event of scheduling conflicts between games in series which CBC held rights to, the game of greater national interest would be carried across the network, while the other game would be carried exclusively by CHEX, and simulcast on the CBC Sports website. This practice ended following the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, as the CBC's rights are now sub-licensed from Rogers Communications and any conflicting games are reassigned to other Rogers-owned channels.

I remember this acronym but for the life of me I can’t remember why.

I don’t remember any games getting pre-empted for The National. I do remember them doing a quick newsbrief during OT, or between games if the first game ended, then going to whatever. They had a national game, a “local” game, and that was it. You always saw the national one unless you were in the “local” area.

I also vaguely remember games being on Camwest (now Global).
 

Fenway

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I remember this acronym but for the life of me I can’t remember why.

I don’t remember any games getting pre-empted for The National. I do remember them doing a quick newsbrief during OT, or between games if the first game ended, then going to whatever. They had a national game, a “local” game, and that was it. You always saw the national one unless you were in the “local” area.

I also vaguely remember games being on Camwest (now Global).

There was one major fiasco and it occurred on May 3, 1979 during Game 4 of the Montreal/Boston SF at Boston. The game went into OT and with the Habs leading the series 2-1 it was pivotal. The problem was that night there was a national election in the UK and 'The National' wanted to go to air and wanted CBC to tell viewers the OT would be seen on SRC only. I was working for the local Boston station that was providing the game feed to TV38 Boston, CBC and SRC. TV38 was also feeding stations in the US.

Everybody is in the WSBK truck as the Boston Garden could only handle one feed and during the intermission, Ralph Mellanby screamed on the phone that if CBC did not come back for the OT, Game 5 and every playoff game the rest of the way would be moved to CTV. Remember in those days CBC did not own Hockey Night In Canada, it was controlled by an ad agency in Toronto.

English viewers in Quebec and the Maritimes would have stayed with hockey but the battleground was Ontario. In the end, CBC took Mellanby's threat seriously and the game was seen coast to coast.
 

danderson400

Registered User
May 21, 2015
166
8
I remember this acronym but for the life of me I can’t remember why.

I don’t remember any games getting pre-empted for The National. I do remember them doing a quick newsbrief during OT, or between games if the first game ended, then going to whatever. They had a national game, a “local” game, and that was it. You always saw the national one unless you were in the “local” area.

I also vaguely remember games being on Camwest (now Global).

I always wonder why TSN didn't have games beyond round 2 in the 90s. Could have helped out with conflicts between series.
 

MarkusKetterer

Shoulda got one game in
I always wonder why TSN didn't have games beyond round 2 in the 90s. Could have helped out with conflicts between series.

Money, most likely. That and HNIC was an institution. Also until later in the 90s, cable/satellite was a luxury (still is, but not as much). Growing up I only knew one family that had satellite. They also didn’t have a front yard anymore.
 

danderson400

Registered User
May 21, 2015
166
8
There was one major fiasco and it occurred on May 3, 1979 during Game 4 of the Montreal/Boston SF at Boston. The game went into OT and with the Habs leading the series 2-1 it was pivotal. The problem was that night there was a national election in the UK and 'The National' wanted to go to air and wanted CBC to tell viewers the OT would be seen on SRC only. I was working for the local Boston station that was providing the game feed to TV38 Boston, CBC and SRC. TV38 was also feeding stations in the US.

Everybody is in the WSBK truck as the Boston Garden could only handle one feed and during the intermission, Ralph Mellanby screamed on the phone that if CBC did not come back for the OT, Game 5 and every playoff game the rest of the way would be moved to CTV. Remember in those days CBC did not own Hockey Night In Canada, it was controlled by an ad agency in Toronto.

English viewers in Quebec and the Maritimes would have stayed with hockey but the battleground was Ontario. In the end, CBC took Mellanby's threat seriously and the game was seen coast to coast.

CBC and the league have been very careful about those type of interruptions for news since. These days, i wonder how it would be handled?
 

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