Chantal Machabée | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1964-09-04)September 4, 1964 (age 61) Laval, Quebec, Canada |
| Education |
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| Occupations | Sports journalist, TV host,Vice President of Communications for the Montreal Canadiens |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Children | 2 |
Chantal Machabée (born September 4, 1964) is a Canadiansports journalist,television presenter, and the current vice president of communication for theMontreal Canadiens. At 24 years old, she made history as the first woman to anchor a daily sports newscast inQuebec.
She spent over 32 years atRéseau des Sports (RDS) as a sports reporter, covering Quebec sports, including the Canadiens' daily activities. During this time, she became the first woman to hostMontreal Canadiens hockey broadcasts on RDS.
Chantal was born on September 4, 1964, inLaval, Quebec, at 12 Place Chopin in theDuvernay neighborhood. Her late father, André, and her mother, Huguette Lapierre, both worked in the perfume and cosmetics industry. Her sister, Manon, is the owner of a pet supply store.[1]
Chantal once stated that she aspired to become asports journalist forLe Journal de Montréal. However, her father, André, encouraged her to pursuepolitical journalism instead, believing there were limited opportunities for women in sports journalism at the time. Interestingly, her parents were not avid sports fans. In her youth, her father would often take her to listen to speeches byRené Lévesque, a man she greatly admired.[1]
Hockey legendGuy Lafleur inspired Chantal's passion for sports at a young age through his performances on the ice during the 1970s.[2]
As a child, she would often say she would one day takeLionel Duval’s place. He was her role model, and she dreamed of the day she’d conduct intermission interviews duringNational Hockey League games.[2]
From 1981 to 1983, she studied literature atCollège Saint-Laurent.[2]
At 17, she volunteered as a statistician for the Patriotesfootball team atCégep de Saint-Laurent while also working as a sports journalist for the VilleSt-Laurent weekly,Les Nouvelles/The News, and the now-defunctDimanche-Matin.[3]
From 1983 to 1985, she studiedpolitical science at theUniversity of Montreal.[4]
Throughout her career, which began in 1985, she has achieved numerous firsts for women in sports broadcasting in the province of Quebec and significantly contributed to the advancement of women in sports media.
In 1985, she wrote forLa Presse canadienne and worked as a sports reporter for the NTR radio network, notably on the showSportivement vôtre atCKSH (AM), hosted by Gilles Péloquin.[5]
In the fall of 1985, she co-hosted the music showGraffiti atMuch Music[6][2] with Marc Carpentier, broadcast onTVJQ.
In 1986, she covered theMemorial Cup inSeattle, where a pivotal career encounter took place. “Denis Ricard fromCBC appreciated my work and arranged a screen test for me.” She was subsequently assigned to cover theCanadian Football League andjunior hockey.[2]
Later in 1986, she joined theTVA network inQuebec City, where she was assigned to cover theNordiques and host the showÇa, c'est du sport![2]
In 1988, she came back to Montreal to become a sports anchor, reporter, and writer at TVA.[7]
In 1989, at only 24 years old, Machabée made history as the first woman to anchor a daily sports newscast in Quebec by hosting the premiere episode ofSports 30 on RDS.[8]
On September 1, 1989, she hosted the very first episode ofSport 30 alongside Serge Deslongchamps, marking the network’s debut broadcast.[3]
In 2004, Chantal became the first woman to host theMontreal Canadiens’ hockey broadcasts on RDS, which she co-hosted with her good friendJacques Demers.[3]
She worked as the daytime anchor for V Network during its coverage of the2010 Vancouver Olympics and participated in theOlympic torch relay, carrying the flame inLes Rivières, Quebec.[9][10]
In 2011, Chantal and a few of her colleagues from RDS traveled to Kandahar, Afghanistan, to meet Canadian soldiers and produce television reports.[11]
In 2012, she was part ofCanada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium for theLondon Olympics on RDS.[12]
Before returning to covering the daily activities of theMontreal Canadiens in 2012, she spent nearly 20 years as the anchor for theSports 30 news bulletin. She was also the host and panelist on the sports talk showL'Antichambre.[13][14]
In 2022, she became Vice President of Communications for the Montreal Canadiens, succeeding Paul Wilson, who was dismissed on November 28, 2021.[15]
In 1998, she and her colleagues Claude Mailhot, Charles Perreault ,Guy Bertrand,Michel Lacroix received aGémeaux Award for the best Sports Newscast[16]
In 2023, she was awarded the Larry Fredericks Media Award.[17]
In 2024, Machabée received the National Assembly’s Medal of Honour[18]
In 2018, her biography titledChantal Machabée—Désavantage numérique, written by one of her former colleagues Guillaume Lefrançois, was published.[4]
Chantal Machabée has two children with her ex-husband: Simon, a firefighter inTerrebonne, and Hugo, who works inMascouche.[1]
She got divorced in 2010 and was publicly linked to Denis Jones in 2014 when the two appeared together at the premiere ofFrançois Morency: Furieusement Calme. Their relationship lasted a few months.[24]
She once co-owned a restaurant,Le Bistro St-Pierre, in OldTerrebonne with her ex-husband and friends.[25]
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