Future of Pierre Houde Broadcasting Canadiens Games in Question

Houde also mentioned that he is far from ready to retire despite this year marking the 50th anniversary of his entering the broadcasting world. When he first entered the business of broadcasting, he was only 20 years old, working as a weekend radio DJ for the popular French CKOI-FM station, while still attending business school at the Université de Montreal. 

It wasn’t until 1989 that Houde finally started broadcasting sporting events when he started off being a commentator during NFL halftime shows 1989 for the new French all-sports TV station, RDS. He was part of the original staff with the TV station when it first broadcast in September 1989. On top of being given time to discuss NFL games at halftime, he was given the gig that he would be most famous for, as the Montreal Canadiens’ Play-By-Play announcer starting that same year.

It wasn’t long before his coined “Le tir et le buuuuuttt!” phrase would be tattooed on every Montreal Canadiens fan for the next decades. The way he announced goals for the Montreal Canadiens is what simply made him such a legendary announcer. Now, heading into his 37th year of announcing the Montreal Canadiens games for RDS, it sadly could be the last.

Not only is the future of the Montreal Canadiens’ broadcast rights in question at RDS, but it also sounds unclear whether or not they will bring back the 68-year-old Houde if they do end up getting the rights back for future seasons. If that were the case, it would really hurt the station’s ratings as many English-speaking Habs fans like myself grew up on Pierre Houde’s voice bringing us every Habs goal from the moment we started watching hockey in the 1990s or early 2000s until now.

Houde also got to prove that he could be a good play-by-play announcer in English one night back in 2002, when he was called upon to announce a game on TSN against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He proved to be able to handle himself well and probably could have worked full-time in English if he weren’t already the top French play-by-play guy for RDS. It was reported that he rejected a job to be the Colorado Avalanche’s play-by-play broadcaster at some point during his career.

If this truly is the final year of Houde calling the play-by-play of the Montreal Canadiens, this would be a sad end of an era. However, if Houde wants to continue to call Habs games after this season, the Canadiens should do everything in their power to make it happen as there isn’t another broadcaster out there that can announce the games with as much passion and energy for the games in French or English.

As someone who grew up on Houde’s play-by-play calls, I may be biased, but the Habs and RDS or TVA Sports need to make sure that Houde still has a spot to call their games in French past this upcoming season. 

How do you feel about the uncertainty of Pierre Houde’s future as a play-by-play commentator?