When it comes to hockey play-by-play, if none other than Jim Robson thinks you’re the best ever in the profession that’s about the highest praise one can receive.
“I’ve always said that Foster Hewitt was the first, Danny Gallivan the most-loved, Bob Cole the best voice, but it’s Jim Hughson who’s my choice as the very best,” Robson told The Province’s Steve Ewen in 2025.
Over 40+ years in broadcast booths across North America, Jim Hughson provided the play-by-play soundtrack for some of the biggest moments in recent hockey history. As long as ice is frozen and pucks are shot into nets upon it, he will be considered among the greatest ever to describe the action.
Born in Dawson Creek, BC, when Jim was two years old the Hughson family moved to Fort St. John, where Jim’s father ran a grain elevator as a buyer for the Alberta Wheat Pool. Jim, his parents, and five sisters were all involved in sports, Jim in hockey and baseball. Interestingly for someone who spent a good portion of his later life appearing on television, Jim largely grew up without it. Fort St. John had one CBC channel and most of the day it was just a test pattern.
His early sports heroes were local and larger than life: the Fort St. John Flyers in the South Peace Hockey League. During intermissions of Flyers games, Jim braved the frigid -35 C temperatures outside to warm the family car up so it would start later. With the car radio on, he listened to Bob Harrison and Bill Dyer on the Hot Stove League discussing the game, possibly planting a subliminal seed for his future career.
But as much as Jim loved sports, in high school he also loved performing and he pursued theatre under teacher Jim Hoffman. After recording a radio play at the local station CKNL, Jim took a part-time job there reading the news on-air. When acting didn’t pay well, he turned to broadcasting Fort St John Flyers games bringing a theatrical flair and approach to his broadcasts that would become his calling card. Later Jim called Vees games in Penticton before moving on to CKIQ Kelowna. He also spent a year at CKLQ in Brandon, Manitoba where he covered the Brandon Wheat Kings.
In 1979 Jim joined CKNW and an early break came as Jim Robson’s occasional replacement for Vancouver Canucks radio broadcasts when Robson was calling games on Hockey Night in Canada. His next step up the ladder came as the voice of the Toronto Maple Leafs on CHCH-TV from 1982-86. From there he served as TSN’s lead hockey and baseball play-by-play broadcaster from 1986-94 covering the NHL as well as the Toronto Blue Jays during their World Series championship years and Montreal Expos games.
To the surprise of some in the East, Jim came back to CKNW to take over Robson’s coveted position as Canucks radio voice from 1994-99. Next came a decade-long run on CTV/Rogers Sportsnet calling Canucks broadcasts from 1998-2008 during which Jim made the line ‘Great save, Luongo!’ famous throughout BC. Beginning in 2005 Jim also added Hockey Night in Canada assignments to his resume. He ended up working 16 years as a HNIC play-by-play broadcaster, including the final 13 years as the country’s lead announcer calling every Stanley Cup Final in that time, usually alongside long-time broadcaster partners Glenn Healy and Craig Simpson.
Along the way Jim also called games at the 2006 and 2014 Winter Olympics, the 1991 World Junior Championships, and several NHL All-Star Games and Winter Classics. In 2019, he was the recipient of the NHL Broadcasters Association’s Foster Hewitt Memorial Award.
Written and researched by Jason Beck, Curator of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.