Who will replace John Bartlett as Habs radio play by play man?

Who will replace John Bartlett as the play by play man for Montreal Canadiens hockey games on TSN 690?

Bartlett completed three seasons on the job after coming over from Toronto where he undertook the same duties for the American Hockey League Marlies. During his time here he did some TV work for TSN Regional broadcasts of the Canadiens, as well as some other assignments. It was only a matter of time before an offer came his way to go on the small screen full-time. With Rogers Sportsnet East and City TV getting the rights to regional Habs games, Bartlett was an obvious choice to call the plays.

For TSN 690 program boss Chris Bury, there is not a lot of time to select a replacement. Then again, with this job description posted and the available  in house talent, the task should not be too difficult.

So who are the leading candidates?

Rick Moffat

• Rick Moffat handled the play by play for CJAD before they lost the rights to the Habs.  Now CJAD and TSN 690 are under the same Bell Media roof.  Moffat is presently the voice of the Impact and the Alouettes. He previously handled Als and Habs duties simultaneously and this season he actually splits Impact duties with CTV's Brian Wilde. There would be no learning curve for Moffat and if he took the job, Conor McKenna  could get a long overdue promotion to full-time status as part of the morning team.
• Elliott Price did  a masterful job as the play by play man for the Expos. He also saw

  

  Elliott Price

  duty with the Alouettes and for the last three years served as Bartlett's very capable backup. Price has paid his dues and definitely deserves a shot.
• Scratch Derek Wills  as a candidate. He was the play by play man for the Habs' AHL affiliate the Hamilton Bulldogs and was a leading candidate three years ago. I spoke to him on a number of occasions three years ago and he was very interested in the job.  He is a talented  broadcaster whom we have been able to hear when TSN 690 carried Hamilton games. Had Bartlett left in June he would have been in the running. However, he was recently hired by the Calgary Flames.
• Would Brian Wilde consider the job? He does an outstanding job covering the Habs for CTV and has the play by play experience with the Impact.

Brian Wilde

Bury says that different talent will be used during the exhibition season and I expect you will see the likes of Moffat, Price and possibly even Wills chosen for this task.

 

TSN Radio play by play man John Bartlett

As far rookie seasons in the broadcast booth go, John Bartlett did an outstanding job as the  play by play man for the Montreal Canadiens on TSN Radio 990 (soon to be TSN Radio 690).

The newest resident of Pointe Claire sat down with The Suburban last week over lunch at Chez Nick in Westmount to look back on his first year in Montreal.  TSN Radio 990 General Manager Wayne Bews  was there as well, sporting the same smile he had last August when he introduced Bartlett to us.

Here is some of what he had to say. See The June 22 Suburban Magazine for a more detailed feature.

Radio hirings and firings proof positive why I chose a different route

It has been a very busy few days on the Montreal radio scene, highlighted by Aaron Rand's (left) hiring by CJAD (first reported more than a week ago on this very blog) and THE TEAM 990's decision to bring in John Bartlett from Toronto.

The engagement of Rand caused a domino effect in CJAD, with bodies flying everywhere. It is a prime example of how unstable the radio business can be and why my mother warned me over and over again as a teenager "not to make a full-time career in broadcasting." She repeatedly pointed to my dad, who broke into the radio business out of university where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce Degree. He had a very exciting career in the early going, but when his station went from English to French his on air life ended. Because of his background in finance he was transferred to the accounting department and was able to continue to support his wife and three kids.

"Don't be like your father," mom warned. "He's lucky they kept him on. He should have stayed in school and become a chartered accountant."

Mom actually wanted me to go for my CA, but by CEGEP I had caught the journalistic bug. Dad might have been off the air, but he continued to cover professional sports for the United Press International wire service. He brought be aboard to help him and by the time I had to apply to university the accounting option was gone and I was accepted to Concordia's Broadcast Journalism program. Late in his career, dad got a two year gig as host of the Montreal Expos pre and post game shows and I got the chance to sit in with him on a regular basis. I must confess it was one of the most exciting opportunities of my career.

Well, I did ended up agreeing with mom. After a three year stint as assistant sports editor at the now defunct Sunday Express Newspaper, I turned to news reporting at The Suburban and ultimately a career in communications and marketing. All along I kept writing my columns in the local community press, so therefore I got to enjoy the best of both worlds.

This brings me back to the news of the week. Rand's hiring prompted CJAD Brand Director Chris Bury and GM Martin Spaulding to conduct a significant overhaul of the station. When it was all over, Dan Laxer found himself virtually out of a job. Rand will be on from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, preceded by Ric Peterson and Suzanne Desautels. While Kim Fraser loses her noon to 2 p.m. slot, she stays on as an executive producer and weekend afternoon host. Laxer's 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. shift is history and all that is left for him is a co-hosting gig on the Sunday morning trivia show. Pretty tough to support a wife and two kids on that. Dan worked his way up from producer to traffic reporter and then host. He is a talented broadcaster, but where does he go in a city with so few English radio opportunities? If I were from the Cogeco group, I would grab him for their planned all-traffic station set to start in the fall, pending CRTC approval.

Dan Delmar, a Suburban colleague, was doing a great job hosting his own evening show. He stays on as an afternoon producer and will no doubt be part of the station's future. His slot now belongs to Barry Morgan, who is perhaps a good example of how to keep your head up in the face of adversity. Morgan left CJAD almost a decade ago to take a job with Sportsnet TV. When his post was eliminated I spoke to him and he was pretty down. At t he time I suggested he consider switching to PR. His heart was still in broadcasting and eventually wound up doing some freelance work for Global TV and CJAD, until the morning news gig opened at the former 940 News. He survived a 940 purge and stayed on the air, also working for sister station Q92. That ended more than a year ago when Murray Sherriffs was rehired and Barry was cast away. He went back to CJAD and this time he did just about everything from hosting news and sports shows to sports and newscasting. It all paid off for he is now a permanent fixture on the new CJAD, handling sports on the Rand Show and then doing his own program.

Rick Moffat goes back to doing morning sports and Abe Hefter will do so on weekends and reporting from the field during the week. Anne Legacé Dowson loses her Saturday show, but Bury says he still hopes to find her something. Andrew Carter and Tommy Schnurmacher remain unscathed as does the newsroom.

Now over to THE TEAM 990. It was expected that either veteran sportscaster Elliott Price or Derek Wills from the Hamilton Bulldogs would get the coveted play-by-play role. Instead it went to Bartlett. According to what I am told, there were five strong finalists for the job. Price and Wills made that list. A committee from Bell Media, with cross country representation, was able to make an objective choice and Bartlett was their man. Too bad for Price, who I thought had earned the role with his years of Expos experience and with the Montreal Juniors hockey club the last three years. He remains part of an excellent morning show team with Denis Casavant and Shaun Starr. But this must be a difficult pill to swallow.

Now THE TEAM 990 needs to choose a colour man. Former Habs tough guy Chris Nilan has made no secret of the fact he badly wants this job. Ditto for Sergio Momesso, the ex Hab who was quite impressive on CJAD broadcasts. Perpaps THE TEAM 990 will surprise us with another outsider. All we can tell you is that it will definitely be a retired player.

The next broadcast scenario to watch is at CHOM FM, where Terry DiMonte will return as morning man. What will happen to current host "Pirate"Pete Marier?

As for Rand, log on to the Local Suburban as of Friday night for my feature story on him.

A final note to my mom: thanks for the good career advice!