In a competitive industry, the Calgary Journal explores the careers of three different individuals pursuing their dream
Professional athletes dedicate their lives in an effort to make it to the big leagues. The perseverance, sacrifice and passion put forward by these athletes goes a long way in getting to the top of their craft.
The same can be said for sports broadcasters.
Peter Maher lived his dream as the radio play-by-play man for the Calgary Flames for over 30 years.
“It was fortunate for me that I started in the ’70s because that was when hockey was at its peak in my home town,” Maher said.
“That gave me a lot of game and I’m a firm believer that for a broadcaster, especially with hockey and probably every other sport, the more you can do early on in your career, the better it’s going to make you as a broadcaster.”
Maher was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006 and retired at the end of the 2013-2014 Flames season after calling 2,954 games.
Since the beginning of radio play-by-play for hockey in 1923 and TV in 1940, the sports broadcasting industry has been growing, but also getting more competitive.
In the National Hockey League, for example, there are thirty teams that require television and radio play-by-play artists, so the positions are few and far between.
This is the story of three passionate people — all at different stages of their career — trying to make a name for themselves in sports broadcasting and one day reach their dreams of calling games at the National Hockey League level.