Robert Munro Moir (1929December 18, 2016) was a Canadian television producer, sports commentator, and journalist. He covered the
Canadian Football League for the ''
Winnipeg Free Press
The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...
'' from 1948 to 1958, then worked more than 40 years for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) beginning in 1952. He was a
play-by-play commentator
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
for football games broadcast on
CBC Sports
CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-languag ...
from 1957 to 1963, and was the first secretary-treasurer of Football Reporters of Canada. He reported for CBC Sports at the
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
, and sneaked into the
Olympic Village during the
Munich massacre to give live reports. As the executive producer for coverage of the
1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...
, he expanded coverage by CBC Sports from 14 to 169 hours, introduced live interviews with athletes after events, and established the model used for future coverage of the Olympics. His later work for CBC Sports included the executive-producer of Canadian Football League broadcasts, the
Commonwealth Games, the Summer and Winter Olympics, and the
World Figure Skating Championships. He was inducted into the
Canadian Football Hall of Fame
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...
and the CBC Sports Hall of Fame, and was named to the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association roll of honour.
Early life
Robert Munro Moir was born in 1929,
in
Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Moir was a sports journalist for the ''
Winnipeg Free Press
The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...
'' from 1948 to 1958, covering the
Canadian Football League. He joined the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1952, was a
play-by-play commentator
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
for football games broadcast on
CBC Sports
CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-languag ...
from 1957 to 1963, and called his first
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...
game in 1958. He was a founding member of Football Reporters of Canada, and served as its first secretary-treasurer.
In 1962, he was the play-by-play commentator for the first
Macdonald Brier of curling to be broadcast live on CBC Sports. He was later a commentator for the
1964 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...
, the first Olympics to be broadcast on CBC Sports.
1972 Summer Olympics
At the
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
hosted in
Munich, Moir was a general assignment reporter for CBC Sports.
During the
Munich massacre crisis, he and
Don Wittman crawled through a hole in a fence to access the
Olympic Village and give live reports, while posing as medical staff on the
1972 Canadian Olympic team. He and Wittman were away from the
Israeli Olympic team building, and could see the nine hostages sitting in a circle, guarded by the Palestinian terrorist group
Black September
Black September ( ar, أيلول الأسود; ''Aylūl Al-Aswad''), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was a conflict fought in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF), under the leadership of King Hussein ...
. He and Wittman filed radio reports to the CBC, and remained on location all day until the hostages were loaded onto a bus.
In a 1994 interview, Moir discussed the decision to sneak into the Olympic Village by saying,
1976 Summer Olympics
Moir was the executive producer for coverage of the
1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...
hosted in
Montreal.
He envisioned expanded coverage of the Olympics, despite criticism of CBC Sports for spending money from taxpayers to do so. He toured Canada to explain the project and boasted that, "the biggest team in Montreal will be the CBC team ... it will be bigger than the
Canadian Olympic team">976Canadian Olympic team".
His crew for the English-language coverage of the Olympics included 245 people who produced 169 hours of content, compared to 14 hours of content at the 1972 Olympics.
The 1976 Summer Olympics gave CBC Sports hosts their first chance to speak with athletes immediately following events, when Moir had a studio constructed for live televised interviews. When multiple events were held simultaneously, Moir had 20 videotape machines in use to record an event to air at a later time.
When
Poland played Russia for the gold medal in volleyball, Olympic coverage was extended to show the game to its conclusion, which delayed airing of ''
The National'' news program by 35 minutes. During the Olympics, Moir had a telephone
hotline
A hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook. An example would be a phone that automat ...
to CBC director of operations
Gordon Craig to discuss airtime, and later commented that he felt a "sense of power" when the news was delayed.
In reference to
audience measurement ratings in Canada, Moir felt that "the Montreal Olympics was the impetus for what you see today".
He also felt that the model used to cover the 1976 Summer Olympics set the standard used by CBC Sports for future live coverage of the Olympics, and stated that the CBC has not lost money covering an Olympics since 1976.
Later career
Moir produced the physical fitness and sports education series ''
Let's Do It'', which aired 11 episodes during the summer of 1974. From 1976 to 1984, he was the producer or executive-producer of Canadian Football League games broadcast on CBC Sports.
In international events broadcast on CBC Sports, Moir was the producer of the
1986 Commonwealth Games
The 1986 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis 1986) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. They were the second Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largel ...
,
then the executive producer of the
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...
and the
1992 Winter Olympics
)
, nations = 64
, athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women)
, events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines)
, opening = 8 February 1992
, closing = 23 February 1992
, opened_by = President François Mitterrand
, cauldron ...
.
As the executive producer of the
1994 Commonwealth Games
The 1994 Commonwealth Games ( French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, from 18 to 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, ...
, he won multiple
Gemini Awards
The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States a ...
.
He also served as executive producer of coverage for the
1994 World Figure Skating Championships
The 1994 World Figure Skating Championships were held at the Makuhari Messe Arena in Chiba, Japan from March 20 to 27. Medals were awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.
Medal tables Medalists
Medals by coun ...
, and the
1996 World Figure Skating Championships
The 1996 World Figure Skating Championships were held in Edmonton, Canada on March 17–24. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.
Medal tables Medalists
Medals by country
Co ...
.
When the
International Skating Union began video recording programs by all skaters in 1996, Moir was a consultant on the project which aimed to increase the accuracy of the judging process.
Moir retired after working more than 40 years for the CBC. Broadcaster
Scott Russell described Moir by saying, "he was always quick to recognize the good things you had done as a broadcaster", and that "he was a demanding person, exacting in terms of the standards he required".
CBC Sports executive director
Greg Stremlaw described Moir's career by stating, "over his more than 40 years with the network, Bob recruited and promoted many of the best-known commentators and analysts in Canadian broadcasting history and was an influential mentor to many production and technical staff".
Personal life
Moir was married to Edmee, and had three daughters and one son.
Moir died at age 87 on December 18, 2016, at
Humber River Hospital in Toronto.
Honours and awards
Moir was inducted into the Football Reporters of Canada section of the
Canadian Football Hall of Fame
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...
in 1985,
was named to the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association roll of honour in 1991, and was inducted into the CBC Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moir, Bob
1929 births
2016 deaths
20th-century Canadian journalists
Canadian colour commentators
Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian Football League announcers
Canadian male journalists
Canadian sportswriters
Canadian television producers
Canadian television sportscasters
CBC Television people
Curling broadcasters
Journalists from Manitoba
Olympic Games broadcasters
Sportspeople from Winnipeg
Writers from Winnipeg