REGINA –It was a situation that could have turned into an utter nightmare for the Rider Broadcast Network and their coverage of the Saskatchewan Roughriders on a hot and extraordinarily smoky day last summer. Instead, the crew of broadcasters and reporters turned it all into a massive win for the network — and now they’ve been honoured for their outstanding efforts.
The Rider Broadcast Network and Harvard Media received the Western Association of Broadcasters Gold Medal at the recent FWD Awards in Kelowna for their work covering the smoke-delayed CFL game between the Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders on July 11 and 12.
The day started out much like any other for the Voice of the Roughriders Dave Thomas, colour man Luc Mullinder and hosts Teagan Witko, Wes Cates and Justin Dunk — the pregame show went off without a hitch, and things were in place for what seemed like just another game.
But there was quite literally a pall of sorts covering the proceedings — smoke from forest fires had blanketed Regina and Mosaic Stadium throughout the day, with the conditions far exceeding the air quality guidelines put in place by the CFL.
And they weren’t getting better.
Then, at 5:30 p.m., the first sign of trouble: the CFL announced that because of the poor air quality, the start time for the game was being pushed back.
That meant that while the RBN crew had things handled with the pregame show with topics, features and advertising, they would have a ton of airtime to fill with basically nothing happening.
So they went to work.
While other CFL broadcast partners pivoted to other programming, the Harvard team stayed on the air and provided continuous updates and information to fans, only to have the game repeatedly delayed.
For nearly four hours.
Four hours of nothing planned — remember, there was supposed to be a game on the field in that time, which was going to fill all that radio space — and that meant a ton of discussions about just about every topic under the sun.
The team was able to quickly recruit some special guests, with TSN play-by-play man Dustin Nielson, country artist Justin Labrash, TSN analyst Luke Willson, CBC reporter Devin Heroux and Sportsnet broadcaster Jamie Campbell all stopping by during the evening to offer insights, commentary and just generally help pass the time.
In the end, as even the TSN crew were packing up and leaving, the Rider Broadcast Network was still on the air — and finally, at 10:45 p.m., a half hour from the originally rescheduled game time of 11:15 p.m. — the CFL announced the game would be postponed until the following day.
And 14 hours later, at 1:30 p.m. on July 12, the entire crew was right back at it, covering what turned into a 24-10 loss for the Green and White at the hands of the Stampeders.
“Our team across the province did an amazing job that evening and their work has been recognized by their peers,” Brad Bazin, Vice President of Local Media AM Brands said in an e-mail announcing the award. “Our network was the only one to stay on the air, covering the event for the public. Let’s hope the only delay this year is for a cute dog running around the field.”
Harvard Media also saw Yorkton GX94 evening and weekend show host Olivia Shearer winning the 2026 Emerging Leader Award, which you can read about by clicking right here.
