News

The CBC's inaugural Toronto Raptors telecast on Sunday will not be seen in Atlantic Canada because of a scheduling conflict.

The network's commitment to Skate Canada coverage early in the afternoon, combined with the one-hour time difference between the East and Atlantic zones, will result in Maritime viewers getting a movie instead of a basketball game.

Viewers with digital television, however, will be able to watch the Boston Celtics-Raptors telecast on a CBC outlet in another region.

Scott Moore, head of CBC Sports, said that despite the conflict, he didn't want to pass on the Raptors-Celtics game given the off-season roster changes made by Boston, most significantly the acquisition of Kevin Garnett.

A year ago, it was speculated that CBC Sports might fold for lack of properties. Since then, the network's NHL agreement has been extended, domestic figure-skating rights have been acquired as well as rights to Raptors, Toronto Blue Jays games and FIFA-Toronto FC content.

The amount of sports programming on CBC this weekend ranks as one of the largest ever.

In addition to Skate Canada and the NBA game, programming will include the Royal Winter Fair, the Toronto Argonauts-Saskatchewan Roughriders game on Saturday afternoon, and three Hockey Night in Canada telecasts.

"It's one of busiest weekends that I can remember since I've been here," said Joel Darling, the director of production for CBC Sports and a seven-year veteran.

In addition to producing content for the main network, the department is also programming for CBC Country Canada as well as CBCsports.ca.

Figure-skating fans without digital TV will be disappointed by the CBC's main network not providing Skate Canada coverage tomorrow night, aside from a two-hour recap at midnight local times. However, Country Canada will cover the event live tomorrow from 2 p.m. EDT to 10 p.m.

MLS playoff telecasts will also air on Country Canada this weekend.

Darling says the CBC will employ more than 400 people — technicians, producers, directors, on-air people — on sports production this weekend.

A good sport

The late Robert Goulet had a connection to sports, albeit an unfortunate one, by flubbing the words to the U.S. national anthem at the Sonny Liston-Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) championship fight in Lewiston, Me., in 1965. But Goulet, who died this week of pulmonary fibrosis, grew up in a big sports town, Edmonton, in the 1940s and 1950s.

Announcer Don Chevrier, also from Edmonton, recalls that when he was a child, Goulet, a teenager, would help him deliver the Edmonton Journal.

"It just so happened he'd be coming home from school when I'd be doing my paper route in the late afternoon," Chevrier said. "I got to know him and he would pick up the last street or two on my route occasionally."

Chevrier made his first appearance in radio through Goulet, who, still in his teens, was announcing children's dramas on CKUA in Edmonton. "It was an acting part," Chevrier said, "and it was my first exposure to radio.

"I remember John Langdon was the program director of CKUA. Between tapings, Goulet would start singing. Langdon would say, 'For Chrissake, shut up. You've got the worst voice I've heard in my life.' Langdon wound up as a bush pilot in northern Alberta. I think that was his true calling."

Chevrier asked Goulet if he had what it took to work in radio. "Kid, wait till your voice changes," Goulet said.

Years later, in the mid-1960s, Chevrier was with CJAD in Montreal. The station was sponsoring a charity concert and wanted Goulet, by then a star, to perform. Chevrier was asked to make the call.

"Just tell me where and when," Goulet said.

"He was a good guy," Chevrier said. "Sometimes you meet people who became famous and they don't have the time of day for you. He certainly wasn't one of them."

A conflict

There is at least the perception of a conflict of interest when hockey agent Ian Pulver appears as an analyst on the Score's hockey show, The Spin, or co-hosts the Bill Watters show on AM640 Toronto. When one of his clients is the subject of discussion, can we count on an unbiased, objective opinion from Pulver?

• In addition to Kurt Browning and Tracy Wilson, 2002 Olympic champions Jamie Salé and David Pelletier will provide commentary on the CBC's Skate Canada coverage.
• Reporter Sara Orlesky is leaving The Score's Vancouver bureau to work for TSN in Toronto. Sources say Orlesky will replace John Lu, who is moving to Montreal to replace Michael Whalen, who is retiring.