Mics and hikes

Bob McGregor made his debut as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ public-address announcer on June 7, 1997, during a pre-season game at Winnipeg Stadium between the hometown Blue Bombers and their western rivals, the Calgary Stampeders.

McGregor will be behind the microphone again this Saturday, detailing the action on the field in addition to leading a boisterous Princess Auto Stadium crowd through what has become his signature call, “And that is another Winnipeg Blue Bombers first down!” The Bombers’ final home date of the 2026 regular season will mark a major milestone for McGregor, and the former newscaster feels it’s only fitting the same two teams as 10,717 days ago — the Bombers and Stampeders — will be the ones butting helmets.

“I knew at the start of the season I was closing in on 300 games as the PA guy, only it wasn’t until I went through the schedule that I realized my 300th would be Winnipeg-Calgary, which struck me as kind of cool,” McGregor says, seated in a St. James breakfast nook, dressed in dark trousers and a blue-and-gold Blue Bombers golf shirt.

“I don’t remember much about that ‘97 game, it all seemed to happen so fast,” he says of what turned out to be a 24-20 Bombers loss in front of 23,438 fans. “But since 300 games doesn’t come along every day, I promise to do my best to remember this one.”

McGregor, 65, was 10 the year his father began taking him to the odd Bomber game, usually purchasing “cheap seats” in the stands looking out at the north end zone. Two-time CFL all-star Don Jonas was the starting quarterback that season, he recalls, but what sticks out most was how his dad always insisted they depart early to beat traffic, whether the score was tight or not.

While he came to love football, McGregor’s primary passion was radio, especially jocular AM morning shows hosted by legendary Winnipeg DJs Ron Able and Don (Master of the Morning) Percy. As a Grade 9 student at St. James Collegiate, he convinced his teachers to allow him to set up a makeshift station in the school’s cafeteria, where he was able to spin the latest Top 40 hits, five lunch hours a week.

McGregor’s efforts — and his already strong, deep voice — eventually caught the attention of Mannie Bazunis, then with KY-58. Bazunis visited McGregor at the high school, instructing him if he was truly interested in a radio career, he should reach out to Ted Farr, his station’s news director. The youth did just that and by his senior year of high school, he was working part-time at KY’s Polo Park studio, reading the news evenings and weekends.

In 1980, following short stints in Thunder Bay and Sault St. Marie, he was offered an on-air position at Q94, “Winnipeg’s Lite Rock Choice.” He spent the next 10 years bouncing from one station to the next, even taking time to try his hand at standup comedy. By the end of the decade, McGregor had moved over to the TV side of things, ultimately landing a co-anchor position on CKY-TV’s evening news broadcast, alongside Barbara-Lee Edwards.

McGregor was an assignment editor at CKY the morning a fax came across his desk, indicating the Blue Bombers’ longtime PA announcer Mo Renaud was retiring after 33 years. By then, he’d been a Bombers season-ticket holder for years, and his initial thought was, boy, those are going to be big shoes to fill. The fax was still on his desk the next day. After staring at it for a few minutes, he placed a call to Ken Bishop, the Bombers’ then-general manager, to inquire if they had anybody in mind to replace Renaud.

“Funny you should ask,” came Bishop’s response. He informed McGregor the club was holding auditions at the stadium that very week, and if he was interested, he was welcome to pop by and give it a shot.

“I believe it was the middle of May and besides me, there were six other guys there trying out, sports-types from TV and radio,” McGregor states. “I had to climb the stairs to the press-box area — I remember being slightly winded by the time I got there — at which point I was handed several scripts to read over the PA system.”

That part went smoothly enough — as a news anchor he was used to reading scripts — but he grew nervous ahead of his next set of instructions, which was to imagine various plays and describe the outcome. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and envisioned then-Bombers QB Kent Austin delivering a long bomb to receiver Milt Stegall, enthusiastically reporting the “completion” to a smattering of Bombers employees seated in the stands. He called a few more pretend plays before thanking everybody for the opportunity, and heading back to work.

McGregor was visiting friends in Vernon, B.C. the following week when he was contacted by the Bombers and told to cut his trip short. The job was his, they let him know, and he was needed back in town tout de suite, to prepare for the aforementioned Bombers-Stampeders pre-season game, a few days hence.

That’s a tough one, McGregor says, when he is asked about memorable moments from his 29-year career at the mic. For starters, there was the one-yard reception by Milt Stegall on July 27, 2007, that crowned the hall of famer as the CFL’s all-time touchdown leader. Then there was the 2021 Western Final against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a nail-biting 21-17 victory that propelled the Bombers toward their second consecutive Grey Cup championship. But the anecdote he brings up again and again occurred Sept. 13, 1998, the afternoon a hapless 0-10 Bombers squad coached by Jeff Reinebold chalked up its first W of the season.

“That’s what came to be known as the Troy Kopp game,” McGregor says, referencing the American-born quarterback who suited up with the Bombers for parts of two seasons. “That day, the Bombers were losing by more than three touchdowns to Saskatchewan when Kopp entered the game, late in the third quarter. He led the team to four touchdowns — they ended up winning 36-35 — and even though I’m not supposed to be a homer, by the fourth TD I was banging my table so loudly with my fist that the Roughriders radio guys, who were next door to us in the press box, were shooting me dirty looks, as if to say, ‘Hey, cool it.’”

On game days, McGregor, who presently works full-time for a Hyundai dealership, generally reports for duty from his Niakwa Park home about 90 minutes before kickoff. After making his way to his perch situated 30 rows up from the 25-yard-line on the Bombers’ side of the field, he goes over notes he prepares the night before, double-checking rosters and verifying pronunciations for player names he’s unfamiliar with. The booth reserved for him and his spotter has windows that close, except he prefers to leave them open at all times.

“I don’t care if it’s minus-10 or whatever outside. I want to hear the crowd and feel like I’m a part of the goings-on,” he says, describing the atmosphere at Princess Auto Stadium, the club’s home since 2013, as being second to none.

“The environment there is so much more fan-favourable than Canad Inns (Stadium), though it had its charms, too. When the team makes a big play, I can literally feel the energy in the stands … hairs still stand up on the back of my neck. My daughter is 27 and thinks it’s an awesome place to be, even if she’s just hanging out with friends by the Rum Hut all game long.”

Listing Bob Cameron, Khari Jones, Charles Roberts and Andrew Harris as some of his favourite players from days gone by, McGregor, who’s only missed two games over the course of his career, both times for work commitments, says he’s never had a formal contract with the Bombers. It’s always been more of a case of, “See you next year, right?” when the season comes to a conclusion, an arrangement he’s perfectly satisfied with.

“It’s an absolutely fantastic gig,’” he says, guessing he’s the longest-tenured PA announcer in the nine-team circuit. “If they continue wanting me back, so long as I’m able to do the job I’d be a fool to say no, right?”

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca