Dave Hodge - Being fired by the CBC

Sportscaster Dave Hodge talks about his career in sports announcing including his being fired immediately following a broadcast on the CBC. This excerpt was from the television program Conversation filmed in 1989. The interviewer was Cary MacDonald. The show was directed and produced by John Richardson.

[@leafyutube]

Dave Hodge is a hero. Not many broadcasters (if any) would have the guts to do what he did. Obviously he felt strongly about his convictions and did what he felt was right.

[@careyleroux3784]

You could add Don Cherry to that list of hero's as well.

[@Libertyjack1]

@@careyleroux3784 Hodge was trying to promote for better broadcasting at the CBC. Cherry felt he could make any ignorant rant he wanted to, with immunity.. Hodge is, by far, the better man. Great commentator, without the flash.

[@bb-gc2tx]

@@Libertyjack1 cherry got taken out by the pathetic woke mob who are offended by everything

[@Libertyjack1]

@@bb-gc2tx Ah 'woke', the in label of every right-wing babbler in the 2020s! He was let go because his ignoramus bubble finally busted. In anycase, for a guy hitting 90, he's owed a retirement.

[@jiles7726]

@@Libertyjack1 'woke' is what the sensitive cancel culture mob calls it

[@kyokogodai-ir6hy]

I live in the states, so I never knew what happened to Hodge. Running across this now upsets me no end. I loved watching Dave on the CBC (I lived in the Detroit area, so we got the Windsor area signal, and then actually got it on cable). It is too bad there are so few with the integrity of a Dave Hodge. Good for you Sir!!!

[@refzz1259]

I grew up watching Dave. He was fabulous and I HATED what CBC did back then. That night though at great personal cost he became a legend and a superhero for perfectly stating the frustration we all had but he did so in a scathing but typically classy way.

[@mckessa17]

I would listen to Dave Hodge over Ron the sweazal Maclean any day.

[@samcollins8291]

I watched it live as a kid, it was a grievance, even i understood that. You spoke for us fans, you had courage.

[@goodbar440]

CBC does not know their audience if you start a game you finish the game simple don't cut it off

[@dixonpinfold2582]

It was also totally unnecessary to fire Hodge for such a minor thing. Pure thin-skinned pique.

[@wilnerolivier7971]

@@dixonpinfold2582 Don't blame Hodge!! But some would say that you don't show up your superiors especially in public whether in the office or on the air. That's the likely reason why he was let go.

[@jamesanthony5681]

He criticized his bosses and the network. Hodge: "The Flyers and Canadiens have us in suspense and will remain that way until we can find out somehow who won this game. Or, who's responsible for the way we do things here. Goodnight for Hockey Night In Canada." Pencil flip. If you say and do what he did, then you deserve to get fired.

[@lightotw]

@@jamesanthony5681 One could also say, if the leadership at CBC does what they did (twice in one day!), they deserve to get fired. Being right isn't about the number of stripes on their shoulder. It's not the army.

[@jamesanthony5681]

@@lightotw Actually, many corporations are like the army. If you embarrass your bosses in a public manner, then you're finished. Shame though, I always thought Dave Hodge was the smartest sports talking head on the CBC and later at TSN. Yes, maybe the leadership at the CBC deserved to get fired at that time.

[@danielmurphy3058]

Dave I have always been the fan. Good people like you don't come that easy. You are just great.

[@aai3661]

CBC management at the time was stuffy as hell. I think part of their attitude at the time was the sports division was a low brow necessary evil. Bad documentaries and Wayne and Shuster specials ruled the day.

[@bluebear1985]

I guess you can't really blame him for doing what he did. Considering that something similar happened earlier in the day, how could he not be frustrated? To be exact from that night, the game in Toronto ended earlier than expected, allowing the rest of the country to see the remainder of the Montreal game. However, it would eventually go into overtime. Only viewers in Quebec though, ended up seeing it because they had seen the game from the start. Definitely a dumb decision on the part of the CBC. It would certainly not be the last one they made.

[@ryantheriote]

Hey this is beauty. I remember my uncle telling me about this one time. He vividly said 'Oh it was a good game too and they cut it before Overtime', but I thought to myself he was a Leaf fan and was in Ontario. Unless Toronto hadn't played or were exempt from Saturday that particular night. This explains a lot in terms of the situation. It really does. The same goes on today but because of the wide, wide coverage it isn't noticed. A game on CBC or Sportsnet can be picked up late or early vice versa and because of the National coverage it can be seen by channel flipping. Not as easy in the 80's with one mainstay station

[@dyates6380]

Outstanding. As a Buffalo native I grew up with HNIC, and I loved ALL of those guys. This guy is a true man.

[@LocoCanada]

Dave you are the man. Without saying what you did, it may have taken years for the moronic CBC bosses to clue in. A drink to ya!

[@daboys1215]

This was Canada's version of the "Heidi game". The problem is that it happened nearly 20 years later.

[@altfactor]

So Dave Hodge protested a "Heidi" move from the CBC.

[@Lava1964]

Yes. Good analogy.

[@victoraustin2010]

Not Heidi movie, the Flintstones

[@dafyd242]

CBC, Canadian Broadcorping Castration!!

[@Lava1964]

Wow! I had a teacher who called it that too!

[@altfactor]

Today, "Hockey Night In Canada", although still broadcast (partially) by the CBC (City TV and Sportsnet also carry some "HNIC" games on Saturdays), is now produced by Rogers Communications, which holds the rights and is parent company of City and Sportsnet.

[@gastondeveaux3783]

Good for him for speaking up. Many times, idiots in high places are not held accountable for their incompetence because everyone is afraid to criticize, even if it's constructive.

[@pavlovshouse77]

And the we got Ron Maclean, things like integrity and standards and hockey knowledge were no longer an issue for him.

[@Bawbster1]

at the time, the people making decisions at the CBC didn't like sports, and if they did, they were the people who always got picked last on the school playground. They felt we'd be better served by watching a Shakespear play or the propagandic news and not watching the last few minutes of the "game"

[@refzz1259]

They were in a huge hurry to cut to The National with Knowlton Nash and watch their ratings plummet. It was baffling. Hodge deserved The Order of Canada for what he did.

[@MarkPentler]

I had no idea about the Curling backstory from earlier in the day

[@HeyStripes]

A true hero

[@dixonpinfold2582]

I doubt many realize that HNIC was an American production at that time. It was owned by Don Ohlmeyer, who as I have heard it fired Hodge (not CBC brass) and who later as NBC president fired Norm Macdonald from Weekend Update on SNL.

[@thetruthhurts6652]

The National with Nolten Nash came on at 11 even if it was game 7 OT of the Stanley cup finals 😎😂

[@bobcarlsson4]

And the Juliette show!

[@95bochamp]

Yup, no doubt the CBC wanted to cut to a repeat broadcast of the Saskatchewan Crop Reports. All of Regina was waiting up to see that one.

[@scottjackson1420]

Was that interview done by and shown on CBC?

[@conversationsnapshots2832]

Scott Jackson this is a clip from a TV series called Conversation.

[@FMichael1970]

Now that ESPN will start showing NHL games again - maybe Hodge can call games for them?

[@thetruthhurts6652]

Nah, he was on TSN for a while but didn’t catch on. I think he’s happily retired.

[@jamesanthony5681]

He did the TSN Sports Reporter show on Sunday mornings (I believe) with sportswriters like Damien Cox, Steve Simmons and others, and Hodge was always the smartest guy in the room. Many times Dave would ask the group a question, and then immediately answer his own question.

[@sweiland75]

Why does the video keep stalling?

[@mitchweiner]

+sweiland75 Try a different browser

[@firestormlivingsolutions]

A great Canadian

[@nickcormier8571]

Apparently in the early days, the game started its broadcast after the second period..May have been on the radio.

[@jamesanthony5681]

Up until the start of the 1968 season, regular season games on TV started @ 8:30, late in the 1st period.

[@robestey5628]

I watched that game and the pen flip. It was priceless . Loved Dave Hodge on the broadcast. CBC...not so much. Only thing keeping them going is HNIC and Anne of Green Gables. lol

[@MrGG1959]

Rogers occupies space in the CBC Broadcast Centre, and uses CBC equipment for the broadcasts, and has since they took over the broadcast rights.

[@Actionronnie]

Remember watching HNIC that night as a kid. I was like WTF not going to finish the other game ! Everyone all ways talked about the pen flip through the years. But that pen flip was the least of his problems. Its what he said before the flip that got him canned. Totally agree with what he said that night. But I would've fired him as well.

[@95bochamp]

"...a particularly climactic moment....". Of a curling match? How could anyone tell?

[@MapleSyrupPoet]

Remember Dave well from my youth ...recall the 🖊 flipping incident 😳 no biggie 😅

[@rouleduke123]

the pen flip saw it live

[@chadbarry2739]

25 years with no canadian stanley cup champion maybe they should have kept him around...1993 was awhile ago generation we cant goes north not the padding of pride they had in mind when they did that for us...

[@kidmack1121]

That '86 Cup with the Habs defeating the Flames was one of my favorites, and I am certain most Flames supporters would say the same about '89 Too bad we will probably never see anything like that ever happen again.

[@kidmack1121]

@Randy Savage I'm glad the league did something right and put a team back in Winnipeg. Hamilton or Saskatoon, maybe?... someday?...

[@kasandrapurplekitten]

National treasure...

[@garygagnon9655]

What`s more important....over time hockey game...or the news???

[@chestermcgillicuddy4368]

Anything crown owed needs to be stopped!!!!!!

[@raycleaveley9201]

Fu CBC love Don cherry and Dave Hodge.

[@dh5040]

Sadly the wonderful Saturday night ritual has been destroyed by the Robbers TV Empire

[@moonlightmelodrama]

CBC: state sponsored media.

[@daveyboy_]

he was always better than Mclean

[@dave0267]

Love Dave Hodge and Ward Cornell , plus , I did like Don Cherry, sorry Ron just kisses ass now , not even close to the folks that I mentioned

[@lyndacalnen2809]

I will always remember the pencil toss. CBC always sucked.

[@chr970]

Still does.

[@chevydryden4508]

Cbc suks

[@cdwarren9360]

Who cares about curling? Make my eyes bleed with boredom. Givem hockey sticks and you got a game!

[@phantomstratocaster]

snce this day the hnic crew has progressively gone to the woke diversity inclusion joke it is today