Bob Moir | |
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| Born | 1929 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Died | December 18, 2016 (aged 87) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupations | Television producer, sports commentator, journalist |
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Robert Munro Moir (1929 – December 18, 2016) was a Canadian television producer, sports commentator, and journalist. He covered theCanadian Football League for theWinnipeg Free Press from 1948 to 1958, then worked more than 40 years for theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) beginning in 1952. He was aplay-by-play commentator for football games broadcast onCBC Sports from 1957 to 1963, and was the first secretary-treasurer of Football Reporters of Canada. He reported for CBC Sports at the1972 Summer Olympics, and sneaked into theOlympic Village during theMunich massacre to give live reports. As the executive producer for coverage of the1976 Summer Olympics, 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, theCommonwealth Games, the Summer and Winter Olympics, and theWorld Figure Skating Championships. He was inducted into theCanadian Football Hall of Fame and the CBC Sports Hall of Fame, and was named to the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association roll of honour.
Robert Munro Moir was born in 1929,[1] inWinnipeg, Manitoba.[2][3]
Moir was a sports journalist for theWinnipeg Free Press from 1948 to 1958, covering theCanadian Football League. He joined theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1952, was aplay-by-play commentator for football games broadcast onCBC Sports from 1957 to 1963, and called his firstGrey Cup game in 1958. He was a founding member of Football Reporters of Canada, and served as its first secretary-treasurer.[4] In 1962, he was the play-by-play commentator for the firstMacdonald Brier of curling to be broadcast live on CBC Sports.[5] He was later a commentator for the1964 Summer Olympics, the first Olympics to be broadcast on CBC Sports.[2][3]
At the1972 Summer Olympics hosted inMunich, Moir was a general assignment reporter for CBC Sports.[6] During theMunich massacre crisis, he andDon Wittman crawled through a hole in a fence to access theOlympic Village and give live reports, while posing as medical staff on the1972 Canadian Olympic team.[7][8] He and Wittman were 50 metres (160 ft) away from theIsraeli Olympic team building, and could see the nine hostages sitting in a circle, guarded by the Palestinian terrorist groupBlack September. He and Wittman filed radio reports to the CBC, and remained on location all day until the hostages were loaded onto a bus.[6]
In a 1994 interview, Moir discussed the decision to sneak into the Olympic Village by saying,
"We were young and stupid, I guess. [Wittman] and I have always done things like that. We always went after the story."[6]
Moir was the executive producer for coverage of the1976 Summer Olympics hosted inMontreal.[2][3][4] 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[1976] Canadian Olympic team".[9] 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.[9]
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.[9] WhenPoland played Russia for the gold medal in volleyball, Olympic coverage was extended to show the game to its conclusion, which delayed airing ofThe National news program by 35 minutes. During the Olympics, Moir had a telephonehotline to CBC director of operationsGordon Craig to discuss airtime, and later commented that he felt a "sense of power" when the news was delayed.[9]
In reference toaudience measurement ratings in Canada, Moir felt that "the Montreal Olympics was the impetus for what you see today".[9] 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.[9]
Moir produced the physical fitness and sports education seriesLet's Do It, which aired 11 episodes during the summer of 1974.[10][11] From 1976 to 1984, he was the producer or executive-producer of Canadian Football League games broadcast on CBC Sports.[4]
In international events broadcast on CBC Sports, Moir was the producer of the1986 Commonwealth Games,[6] then the executive producer of the1988 Summer Olympics and the1992 Winter Olympics.[2][3] As the executive producer of the1994 Commonwealth Games, he won multipleGemini Awards.[2][3] He also served as executive producer of coverage for the1994 World Figure Skating Championships,[12] and the1996 World Figure Skating Championships.[13] When theInternational 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.[13]
Moir retired after working more than 40 years for the CBC. BroadcasterScott 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".[2] CBC Sports executive directorGreg 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".[2]
Moir was married to Edmee, and had three daughters and one son.[1][2] Moir died at age 87 on December 18, 2016, atHumber River Hospital in Toronto.[1][3]
Moir was inducted into the Football Reporters of Canada section of theCanadian Football Hall of Fame in 1985,[2][4] was named to the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association roll of honour in 1991,[14] and was inducted into the CBC Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.[15]