2023-12-24 16:29:29
Host Jean-Paul Chartrand, who was part of the large Réseau des Sports (RDS) family since the station’s inauguration in September 1989, died on December 23 at the age of 92.
Resolutely associated with the description of boxing fights that he had carried out for four decades, Mr. Chartrand had a prolific career in the world of media – in writing, on radio and on television – which spanned from the late 1950s until today.
Former employee at the City of Montreal, salesman, master of ceremonies and even… doorman in bars, he cut his teeth as an evening host at the radio station CJMS before being hired as a freelancer in the sports department of the rival AM band, CKAC.
Mr. Chartrand then moves to the written press with the opening of Montreal Journal in 1964, notably being assigned to cover the Montreal Alouettes. He eventually became director of the daily’s sports section before briefly returning to radio at CKAC.
In 1972, he joined the ranks of Montreal-Morningwhere he followed football, but also the activities of the Montreal Canadiens, who then included in their ranks future members of the Hall of Fame Yvan Cournoyer, Ken Dryden, Bob Gainey, Guy Lafleur, Guy Lapointe, Jacques Lemaire, Larry Robinson , Serge Savard, Steve Shutt as well as head coach Scotty Bowman.
At the closing of the Montreal-Morning in 1978, Mr. Chartrand returned to radio once once more – to CJMSthen to CKVL –, while participating in the broadcast of National Football League matches on Sunday followingnoons on television Radio-Canada. At the same time, he blackens the pages of Sunday morningwhere he was sports director, until the weekly closed in 1985. The disappearances of the Montreal-Morning a you Sunday morning shook him deeply.
“I have had so much fun over the last 63 years, but I remember the closing of the Montreal-Morning and that of Sunday morningwhere I lost many friends, Mr. Chartrand recalled in an interview with Yanick Bouchard and Frédéric Plante at 5 to 7 on November 6 on the sidelines of his induction into the Panthéon des sports du Québec as a builder.
“All the guys I knew, unfortunately, are waiting for me upstairs for the golf game. »
It was at the same time that he began to be associated with boxing, which was experiencing excitement on the local scene with the arrival of the Hilton brothers on the scene and the rivalries pitting the elder Davey Hilton once morest Mario Cusson, Denis Sigouin or even Alain Bonnamie to name just a few.
Mr. Chartrand is obviously essential when it comes to finding craftsmen to launch RDS in 1989. Versatile, he naturally dabbles in boxing, but also football as well as hunting and fishing in the company of Jean Pagé, with whom he will have many laughs.
“It’s on a golf course [que l’un des fondateurs de RDS] Guy Des Ormeaux told me that he was opening a 24-hour sports station, he told 5 to 7. I said to him: “Are you crazy?” He replied: “Not only am I crazy, but you come with me to do boxing, football and hunting and fishing”. I then told him I gave him six months and they’re not over yet! »
In boxing, Mr. Chartrand described more than 1,600 galas in the company of his analyst Yvon Michel. He was ultimately an important collaborator of RDS.cawhere his weekly columns on the noble art were read and commented on by a large number of enthusiasts.
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