Rob Faulds

Birthplace
Hamilton, Ontario

Birthdate
September 29, 1955

First Media Job
1975 - CFPL Radio in London, Ontario


Rob Faulds was able to marry his love of sports and his interest in radio and television serving as sportscaster and anchor for varied sporting events. Rob refers to his career launch as a “lucky accident” when he happened to wander into the Radio Western studios at Western University in London, Ontario where he was studying biology and psychology. He was persuaded to volunteer with the station and was soon hooked. His time was spent writing news, hosting a music show and doing play-by-play for the university’s Mustangs football team.

Radio Western provided the training grounds that propelled Rob into the broadcast industry. The campus radio station had an arrangement with CFPL FM in London whereby students were offered the midnight to 6:00 am time slot to gain real radio world experience. This association led to a part-time position at CFPL AM Radio working as an operator, setting up remotes, programming and from time to time hosting an on-air show. Rob soon began spending more time at the campus station and less in class. CFPL management approached Rob about the numerous hours he was logging conferring that this was not management’s policy. Worried, he quickly surmised that the end of his career at the station was imminent. Before he could take a second breathe though, his fear turned to excitement when he was asked if he would consider coming on staff full-time. He didn’t need much time to decide on taking management up on its offer.

His strategy was to learn, learn, learn. He listened to veteran broadcasters who were more than willing to share their knowledge and experience. To this day, Rob believes the keyword is versatility. In a recent interview Faulds states, “I try to tell young broadcasters to try everything. It will give them a great foundation to build their career on.” CFPL proved to be vital in Rob’s learning and training. He continued to multi-task including play-by-play for the London Knights, a skill acquired at the campus radio station.

Rob Faulds’ next stop was at CKSO Radio in 1980 where he was hired as Sports Director replacing Joe Bowen. This involved morning sportscasts and eventually led to television reporting and anchoring. Taking over from Joe also amounted to doing play-by-play of the Sudbury Wolves hockey games. Rob also reflects on the four years of his time at CKSO as an opportunity to continue to learn and hone his skills.

In January of 1984 it was off to Winnipeg to CFRW AM, but it would be a short stay followed by a move to Montreal late in that year. The 2,270-kilometre move was significant in distance but more so, it meant a giant career step landing at CFCF AM Radio and CFCF CTV Television. In addition to his radio and television duties, Faulds began doing play-by-play for the Montreal Canadiens and Montreal Expos. He also became engaged in freelance assignments for CTV Sports.

Rob was in Montreal for eleven years before moving next to Toronto in late 1995 where he joined CTV Sports as a sportscaster and commentator.

Three years later Rob was poised to be included as part of the original Sportsnet Team when the Canadian English-language sports specialty service was launched. Established in 1998 and branded as CTV Sportsnet it was a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media and Rogers Media. CTV’s parent Bell Globemedia was instructed to divest its stake when it acquired a competing network, TSN. Rogers became the sole owner of the sports specialty network in 2004.

Tuning into Sportsnet on any kind of regular basis one would learn just how the name “Rob Faulds” had become household due to the number and varied sports programming Rob hosted or called play-by-play. He has done curling, tennis, swimming, CHL Hockey, play-by-play for the Toronto Blue Jays, regional games for the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators and National Lacrosse League games. Faulds has also called Canadian football for ESPN. Faulds serves as a fill-in host from time to time for the radio talk-show Prime Time Sports.

Highlights of Rob’s career include covering the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. His Olympic coverage included curling, tennis, golf, swimming, alpine and cross-country skiing, speed skating, equestrian, track and field, auto racing, cycling and soccer. One of the crowning moments for Rob during the 1992 games was calling Mark Tewksbury’s gold-medal race in the 100-metre backstroke. Rob also covered the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Whistler, B.C. calling the gold medal runs for Jon Montgomery in skeleton and Kallie Humphries and Heather Moyse in bobsleigh. Faulds covered the London 2012 Olympic Games calling canoe and rowing events.

Sportsnet eventually took over the telecasting of Indy car races from TSN and as a result in 2013 Rob was assigned to anchor the races.

Faulds has continued to show his versatility by providing play-by-play for the NHL, Junior Hockey, Major League Baseball, the NBA, the CFL and figure skating. Rob has become known for his home run call, “Whaddaya think about that?”

Rob’s additional personal interests include reading, golf and squash/racquetball.

Rob Faulds will tell you he has a simple philosophy he likes to pass along when asked for advice. “Know your stuff and have fun.”