It was announced, yesterday, that CBC will no longer be carrying hockey night in Canada, Saturday night broadcasts, effective immediately.
For anybody growing up in Canada and in the northern US border states this was a Saturday night staple. CBC started carrying Saturday night broadcasts on radio back in 1936. Their first televised broadcast was in 1952. Many Canadians bought TVs in the 1950s, just to watch hockey night in Canada.
As a kid, I remember Ward Cornell being the TV host, in the 1960s. CBC would carry Saturday night broadcasts of Montréal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Although the games started at 8 o’clock up until the early 1960s CBC would not start the broadcast until 9 o’clock when the game was in the early part of the second period. By 1968 CBC started carrying the whole game.
Once the games started to be carried in color, many kids would go to stores that were selling colour TVs just to watch the game in color. Some adults did the same thing.
This was a time of one TV homes. Many families had arguments with kids wanting to watch hockey night in Canada or shows on other networks. Hockey night in Canada usually won.
Hockey night in Canada, later on, was Ron McLean and Don Cherry, who you either loved or hated. Before then, it was Foster Hewitt and Danny Gallivan with his Savardian Spinorama.
This is a sad day. The day of sports on free TV is ending. Sportsnet will now carry the hockey broadcasts, so life will go on. I guess it is true, time waits for no one.
That’s all I have for today.