Jean-Charles Lajoie will be a busy man in the coming year. At the helm of a morning radio show and an end-of-day TV show, the sportscaster won’t have much time to sleep.
Posted at 5:16 p.m.
We have known for several months that Jean-Charles Lajoie will be back at 91.9 Sports at the end of August, he who left sports radio in 2018 to join TVA Sports. He will host the weekday morning show, from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., in addition to keeping his television show JiCfrom 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
It is for him a “return home”, indicated the main interested party Wednesday noon, on the occasion of the launch of the annual program at the cabaret of the Casino de Montreal. For the 51-year-old, there was no question of “choosing one or the other”.
“I couldn’t be happier,” he said. I’m going to go there and back, while varying, but on the same theme. It’s amazing. »
“Yes, my heart is healthy,” he continued, referring to his schedule for the next few months. My blood tests are good. I have a close guard who will take good care of me. I’m going to have a balanced, orderly life. I have been seen feasting a lot in the past few months because I knew I was entering the monastery. And I enter the most beautiful of monasteries. »
Mr. Lajoie is not worried about being able to clearly distinguish between his two sports broadcasts. Because his thinking “evolves” throughout the day and his discussions.
“The most important thing in this is listening,” he said. I am a puck passer. I’m here to showcase the team, the columnists. I will never be stronger than my weakest link, so I make sure I have strong links and that they shine. »
The birth of BPM Sports
The 91.9 Sports promised a historic launch for its 2022-2023 season and it did not fail.
In a sporting atmosphere in the boxing ring of the Casino de Montréal cabaret, the President and CEO of RNC Media, Robert Ranger, announced that 91.9 Montréal, 100.9 Québec and 96.5 Gatineau-Ottawa were now grouped under a single banner: BPM Sports.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
RNC Media President and CEO Robert Ranger
“When 91.9 was created on August 31, 2015, we wanted to do more,” explained Mr. Ranger. More sport, more territory. It was really an idea that did not go away. »
With BPM Sports, RNC Media will reach “80% of adults aged 18 and over in the province”. For the director of programming at 91.9 Montreal, Yves Bombardier, this is “historic” news. “We are the precursors of something. We’ll see what happens over time, but we’ve believed in it for about eight years,” he said. The Press.
The name BPM refers to “heartbeats per minute”, it was explained in a presentation video. The message being that sport is “a story of the heart”.
Programming
The official start of BPM Sports will take place on August 29. And in terms of programming, the network has gone all out.
In total, a dozen animators will follow one another during the week. The days will begin at 5:30 a.m. with The pre-game hosted by Daphnée Malbœuf, the only woman in the program at the helm of a show.
“To be the first person who opens the antenna, we see the progress that has been made in recent years, she said on this subject. There is still a lot of work to do, but I think it shows the trust my bosses have in me. »
“Often, we have the default, when we give a sports mandate to a woman, that it is the “feminine flavor”. What I told my boss is that I’m just gonna be me. I don’t want it to be a feminine flavor necessarily. It’s true that my background, as a woman, is different than my male colleagues, but I think it’s fair to continue to prove that women talk about sport as much as men. »
Jean-Charles Lajoie will take over at 6 a.m. with his show Jean-Charles Lajoie: first storyteller. It will welcome many collaborators every day, including the former mayor of Montreal Denis Coderre, who will follow one another until 9 a.m.
Listeners will then find Gilbert Delorme and Benoit Roger in The Game from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Georges Laraque and Maxime Truman will in turn host George’s world from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., then Maxime Van Houtte will continue with The Platform from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Georges Laraque and Maxime Truman
Martin Lemay will be back for The return of the athletes from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. with several collaborators, including the journalist from The Press Mathias Brunet, Jason Pominville and current Arizona Coyotes coach André Tourigny.
“I’m doing this because I love sport, dropped Lemay. I like to talk with people and I want to take the discussion elsewhere. I’m a little tired of people asking themselves the question: is he a center or a winger? And let’s talk about it for eight days. I like that to explain the strategies, that the people of the medium come to explain. »
“Basically, I just want to put on the best show possible,” he added.
Paul Houde, who until recently was the most courted free agent on Montreal radio, will take the microphone on weekends, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. with his show The sports weekends of Paul Houde.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Paul Houde
Note that BPM Sports remains the official radio station of CF Montreal, Laval Rocket and Eye of the Tiger Management.