Longtime CBC reporter, host and announcer Bob MacGregor has died.
MacGregor, who started his career at the public broadcaster in 1956, was a reporter, writer, host and producer in Toronto and Montreal during his 50-plus years in broadcasting.
Among his major assignments at the CBC was reporting from the 1973 Quebec election in which a pro-federalist Robert Bourassa faced off against the separatist René Levesque.
(Photo: Joe Mahoney/CBC)
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I only worked with Bob MacGregor briefly, five years ago. But it was my first summer at CBC, as an intern. Bob taught me two things, and they stuck.
Bob had agreed to train me on reading a newscast. I prepared the scripts, and headed into the booth for a practice run. Bob had a switch open so he could listen from his desk and give me pointers.
“Not bad,” he said. “But you can slow down. And, it’s KILL-ometre, not kil-AH-metre.” We proceeded to have the discussion that has been handed down through the generations at CBC. “But everyone says kil-AH-metre,” I told him. “Not here,” he said. “We don’t say cen-TIH-metre, do we?”
At the time, I was surprised he would notice a little thing like that, or care. But anyone familiar with CBC style would know Bob had it all down: HUR-ih-can, not hur-ih-CAYN. Always SHED-ule; never har-ASS.
“If you have trouble with it, write it out phonetically,” he said. Lesson one: details matter. It’s KILL-ometre.
Lesson two came at about 01:06, after my first on-air ‘cast. Not great, but no major flubs. I called my mom, who had tuned in three time zones away to hear me. I told her how the night was going, and grumbled a bit about the “old school” pronunciation, then said goodbye and headed back out into the newsroom.
“So?” I said nervously to Bob. “I went too fast, but at least I said KILL-ometre.”
“Yes. But you should always remember,” he said dryly, “to watch what you say in front of an open microphone.” A moment of confusion, and then: the switch at his desk. Grumbling to my mother. I am an idiot. “Sorry, I….”
“That’s alright,” he said. “It’s a good lesson to learn.” And, it was.
I never, ever say “SHED-ule”, neither does anyone I know.
So always found the insistence that once pronunciation should dominate a little puzzling, if not alienating.
Ditto “harassed”, where I’ve never ever heard the “official” cbc pronunciation anywhere except on the cbc.
I also worked with Bob, though not at CBC but at CJAD in Montreal in the late 70’s. He was a very hard-working guy and, as Lisa pointed out, a stickler for proper pronunciation and grammar. He was also a good mentor to anyone starting out in the business.
I hadn’t heard his voice in years until I heard him do an hourly last Christmas Eve, I believe, when he announced the death of Oscar Peterson. He still sounded pitch perfect, and though the timbre of his voice was not as strong, it was clear his commitment was.
Rest well, Bob MacGregor
I never had the pleasure of working with Bob in the Toronto newsroom, although he did vet me on occasion while I was in “the regions”. I have heard of many instances of his generosity and kindness to new journalists, including buying hotdogs for staff from the street vendors at 2 am. He had the voice that seems to have always been there, when waking up for an early morning shift, or worse yet, staying too late at work to cut tape. He was steady, confident and professional on-air, and was a touchstone that always brought a sense of comfort in those wee, small hours.
We’ve lost a fixture at the CBC. Bob is one of the old pros and he will be truely missed.
What amazed me when I worked in the Toronto newsroom is that even as one of the most senior people in the corporation, let alone at national radio news, he worked overnights and enjoyed it. He could have retired years ago but instead there he was every evening. I can still picture him walking with his cane into the booth just before the top of the clock, to deliver another flawless newscast.
The newroom will miss him and so will listeners from coast to coast to coast.