Jim Robson OBC (born January 17, 1935) is a former radio and television broadcaster who was the play-by-play announcer of the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...

' games from 1970 to 1999.

Broadcasting career

Robson started his career at the age of 17 covering senior men's basketball for CJAV

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

in Port Alberni. In 1955, Robson started working for CHUB radio in

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. "The Harbour City" was previously known as the "Hub City", which was attributed to its original layout design with streets radiating fr ...

, where he covered the

Mann Cup The Mann Cup is the trophy awarded to the senior men's box lacrosse champions of Canada. The championship is a best-of-seven, East vs West series played between the league champions of Major Series Lacrosse, the East, and Western Lacrosse Associat ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

finals. By 1956, Robson found himself in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

covering the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

, the Vancouver Mounties

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team and the then WHL

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

team on CKWX.

Vancouver Canucks

When the Vancouver Canucks became an

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, Robson moved to

CKNW CKNW (730 AM) is a commercial radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia. Owned by Corus Entertainment, it broadcasts a talk radio format. Its offices and studios are in the TD Tower in Downtown Vancouver. CKNW is powered at 50,000 watts, ...

to announce the team's games; he was popularly known as the "Voice of the Canucks" for nearly three decades. For the first seven years, he usually worked alone. For road games, he broadcast the game without a colour commentator and provided the pre-game, intermission, and post-game shows. In 1977–78, he was joined by former BC Lions player and broadcaster Tom Larscheid. From 1983–84 to 1987–88, his broadcasting partner was ex-Canuck Garry Monahan before Larscheid rejoined him in 1988–89. He also covered the Vancouver Canucks on television broadcasts on BCTV, CHEK-TV and VTV from 1985–86 through 1998–99. From 1987–88 to 1993–94, Robson provided both radio and television

play-by-play In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

for the Canucks on simulcasts, alongside colour commentators Monahan and Larscheid, and

Howie Meeker Howard William Meeker (November 4, 1923 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian professional hockey player in the National Hockey League, youth coach and educator in ice hockey, and a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament. He became best ...

joined him on both TV and radio in 1985–86. Robson stepped down as the radio announcer for the Canucks in 1994 and moved to television full-time. His last radio broadcast was game seven of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals between the Canucks and the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

. Robson served as the Canucks' TV announcer for five more seasons, working alongside colour commentators Darcy Rota (1994–95 to 1995–96) and Ryan Walter (1996–97 to 1998–99). His replacement on radio was Jim Hughson, who later moved to Rogers Sportsnet, and then to CBC's ''

Hockey Night in Canada ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') is a long-running program of broadcast ice hockey play-by-play coverage in Canada. With roots in pioneering hockey coverage on private radio stations as early as 1923, ...

''. In his final year, Robson split television play-by-play duties with rookie John Shorthouse, who is now the announcer for the Canucks on TV and radio.

National television

Jim Robson also worked for

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

's ''

'', mostly covering games in

western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

. It was for ''HNIC'' that he broadcast the Canucks' first NHL game, a 3–1 home loss to the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

on October 9, 1970. His reputation as one of the top broadcasters in the business earned him assignments to cover the

Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, ) is the annual championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL). The winner is awarded the Stanley Cup, North America's oldest professional spo ...

in , , (in which the Canucks faced the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (N ...

), and . He also covered the

NHL All-Star Game The National Hockey League All-Star Game () is an exhibition ice hockey tournament that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many of the League's star players playing against each other. The ga ...

s in 1977 (

), 1981 (

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

), and 1983 (

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

). He left ''HNIC'' after the 1984–85 season, but had a couple of national TV assignments afterward; for CBC in the 1987 playoffs and

CanWest Global Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place (now called 201 Portage). It held radio, ...

for the 1988 Smythe Division Final between the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. Th ...

and

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The ...

. Nationally, Jim Robson is probably best remembered for his call of Bob Nystrom's Cup-winning overtime goal for the Islanders in 1980. Locally, his voice is linked to every significant Canucks moment in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, particularly the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

and 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs. Robson was also well known for taking time to say "a special hello to all the hospital patients and shut-ins, those of you who can't make it out to the game", during each of his broadcasts, both on radio and TV. On Hockey Night in Canada, he also used to make a statement prior to the opening face-off regarding team uniform colors, for example, "Tonight it's the Vancouver Canucks at the Calgary Flames; the Flames in their home whites trimmed in red and gold, the Canucks in their road black jerseys trimmed in yellow and orange." The notion of 'trimmed' was Robson's unique quote among HNIC play-by-play announcers.

Achievements

Off-the-air, Jim was involved in the community being in-demand as a guest speaker for numerous fund-raising dinners and banquets throughout the province of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. He served as a Director of the BC Benevolent Hockey Association and the Canucks Alumni. Jim was awarded the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award by the

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...

in 1992, and was inducted into the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998 and the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2002, at the

Canadian Association of Broadcasters The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is a trade association representing the interests of commercial radio and television broadcasters in Canada. It is co-located with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council in Ottawa. It was first ...

annual meeting in Vancouver, Jim Robson was inducted to the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame. The broadcast booth at

Rogers Arena Rogers Arena, (formerly General Motors Place), is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, arena at 800 Griffiths Way in the Downtown Vancouver, downtown area of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Opened in 1995, the arena was known as General ...

is named after him.

Memorable calls

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robson, Jim 1935 births Canadian colour commentators Canadian Football League announcers Canadian sports announcers Foster Hewitt Memorial Award winners History of Vancouver Lacrosse announcers Living people Minor League Baseball broadcasters National Hockey League broadcasters People from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Mass media people from Vancouver Vancouver Canucks announcers Canadian Screen Award winning sportscasters