Paul Graham (television producer)

Graham was born on June 9, 1959,{{cite web|url=https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2025/wm/static/67662/paul_graham|title=Paul Graham: IIHF Media Award|date= May 25, 2025|website=International Ice Hockey Federation|access-date=May 28, 2025}} at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta.{{cite news|title=Man Behind Curtain Steps Into Spotlight|last=Jones|first=Terry|date=November 20, 2018|newspaper=Edmonton Journal|page=B1|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/edmonton-journal-graham-2017/170494453/}}{{cite news|title=TSN Exec Would Be A Perfect Fit To Help Rebuild Elks|last=Jones|first=Terry|date=December 10, 2021|newspaper=Edmonton Journal|page=B1|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/edmonton-journal-graham-2021/170494525/}} He grew up in the Westwood neighbourhood, across the road from Westwood Arena where he learned to skate.{{cite news|title=TSN going whole-hog on the World Championships in Prague|last=Jones|first=Terry|date=April 24, 2015|newspaper=Edmonton Sun|url=https://edmontonsun.com/2015/04/24/tsn-going-whole-hog-on-the-world-championships-in-prague|access-date=April 17, 2025}} As a child, he was a newspaper carrier for the Edmonton Journal, and organized ball hockey and football games among friends.{{cite web|url=https://techlifetoday.nait.ca/articles/2018/paul-graham-tsn-canadian-football-hall-of-fame|title=Paul Graham named to Canadian Football Hall of Fame|last=Messenger|first=Scott|date=December 10, 2018|website=Northern Alberta Institute of Technology|access-date=April 16, 2025}} He was a regular member of the Knothole Gang at Clarke Stadium, watching the Edmonton Eskimos for 25 cents per game. He was also a ball boy for the Edmonton Wildcats, earning {{currency|2|CAD}} per week at their practices, and travelled with the team to road games in Calgary and Regina.

Attending St. Joseph High School, Graham played football as a teammate of future professional player Hank Ilesic. Graham graduated from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio and Television Arts in 1979. He played intramural flag football while at NAIT, and credited the school for giving him the confidence to work in television.

Graham was a producer and director for NAIT Ooks men's ice hockey games on community television, when offered a job with Hockey Night in Canada broadcasting games for the Edmonton Oilers during their first National Hockey League (NHL) season. He initially declined, then was invited to Northlands Coliseum during a meal break for a tutorial on graphics for research and statistics, and was hired for the 1979–80 NHL season. In 1980, he began working for CBC Sports as a sideline spotter for Canadian Football League (CFL) games in Edmonton.{{cite web|url=https://cfhof.ca/members/paul-graham/|title=Paul Graham: Class of 2018|date=2018|website=Canadian Football Hall of Fame|access-date=April 15, 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://press.cfl.ca/broadcaster-paul-graham-awarded-hugh-campbell-distinguished-leadership-award|title=Broadcaster Paul Graham Awarded Hugh Campbell Distinguished Leadership Award|last=Barrett|first=Lucas|date=2017|website=Canadian Football League|access-date=April 17, 2025}}

Subsequently working for CITV-DT (later Canwest Global) and CTV Television Network, Graham oversaw research, statistics, and graphics. With CITV-DT, he was promoted to associate producer, then television producer. He chose production since he enjoyed organizing events. He also worked in concert production, and moving sets and mopping floors for Second City Television in Edmonton, while working his way up to being a producer.

Moving eastward in 1987, Graham joined the newly established Canadian Football Network which lasted four seasons. He produced 40 CFL games per season, from the on-site production truck, including the 75th Grey Cup hosted in Vancouver in 1987. He also did film preservation work on several decades of videos used to profile the game's hall of fame inductees.

Graham's first International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tournament was the inaugural Women's World Championship, hosted in Ottawa in 1990.{{cite web|url=https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2025/wm/news/67976/iihf_honours_its_contributors|title=IIHF honours its Contributors|last=Podnieks|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Podnieks|date=May 25, 2025|website=International Ice Hockey Federation|access-date=May 28, 2025}} Joining the The Sports Network (TSN) in 1991, he produced coverage of the NHL, National Basketball Association, and Canadian Hockey League, including ten Memorial Cups. His work also included the Winter Olympic Games in 1988, and women's ice hockey at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Graham produced the IIHF World Junior Championship coverage annually since 1992, after reaching a broadcast agreement with then Hockey Canada vice-president Bob Nicholson.{{cite news|title=TSN Banking on Hlinka Gretzky Cup Success|last=Jones|first=Terry|date=August 9, 2018|newspaper=Edmonton Journal|page=C1|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/edmonton-journal-graham-2018/170508946/}} TSN initially covered only the Team Canada games, then added all games in Team Canada's pool.{{cite news|title=TSN's executive producer Paul Graham is signing off after building up the world juniors into the beast it is today|last=Garrioch|first=Bruce|date=December 30, 2024|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen|url=https://ottawacitizen.com/sports/hockey/junior-hockey/tsns-executive-producer-paul-graham-is-signing-off-after-building-up-the-world-juniors-into-the-beast-it-is-today|access-date=April 15, 2025}} At the 1992 event, TSN had only five cameras, and broadcast only five games to Canada.

Overseeing TSN's coverage of the inaugural 1997 Winter X Games, Graham felt that despite low ratings at the time, "extreme sport is a statement", that it "[rebelled] against the sporting status quo", and "it's new and fresh and young".{{cite news|title=Sports in the Extreme: Over the Edge|last=Haysom|first=Ian|date=December 15, 1996|newspaper=Edmonton Journal|page=46|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/edmonton-journal-graham-1996/170545388/}}

Graham became the senior producer of Hockey Night in Canada in 1998, and produced four Stanley Cup Finals, and four NHL All-Star Games. He also produced coverage of the Pan American Games in 1999 and 2003. In 2003, he became a senior producer for Raptors NBA TV.

Graham returned to TSN in 2009, then was vice-president and executive producer of live-event production from 2010 until retiring in 2025.{{cite news|title=Ken Volden and Paul Graham Appointed to TSN Executive Team|date=December 8, 2010|work=CNW Group|url=https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ken-volden-and-paul-graham-appointed-to-tsn-executive-team-547202002.html|access-date=April 16, 2025}} He oversaw the long-term development strategy and production for live events, and production of the 2010 Winter Olympics coverage from Whistler Blackcomb as a leading member of Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.

When losing broadcasting rights to NHL games, Graham led a TSN strategy to cover multiple other platforms including college football, March Madness, The Brier, and the US Open Tennis Championships. In January 2015, TSN had the second most watched month in its history at the time. Graham built relationships with various organizations, leagues and teams, while arranging broadcast agreements and production.

Since TSN became the CFL's exclusive broadcast partner in 2009, Graham produced coverage for all regular season and playoffs games, and the Grey Cup. Expanded coverage included Thursday Night Football games, with the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto as one of his "proudest achievements". He implemented behind-the-scenes access for viewers, which included new camera angles, on-field cameras and microphones. Coverage grew to ninety games annually by the 2018 CFL season, using 14 cameras per regular season broadcast. During that year's Grey Cup, his broadcast crew numbered 200 people, utilized 40 cameras including super slow motion cameras for instant replays, and a camera mounted on the referee.{{cite news|title=It'll be all hands on deck for TSN Sunday night|last=Jones|first=Terry|date=November 20, 2018|newspaper=Edmonton Journal|page=B2|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/edmonton-journal-graham-2018/170509102/}}{{cite news|title=TSN is ready to score a touchdown with Grey Cup coverage|last=Garrioch|first=Bruce|date=November 24, 2017|newspaper=Ottawa Sun|url=https://ottawasun.com/sports/football/tsn-is-ready-to-score-a-touchdown-with-grey-cup-coverage|access-date=April 17, 2025}}

In 2019, Graham interviewed with the Edmonton Eskimos for the vacant president and CEO position. The team were reportedly close to hiring him, but no financial agreement was reached.{{cite news|title=There's a new boss in town|last=Moddejonge|first=Gerry|date=August 8, 2019|newspaper=Edmonton Journal|page=C1|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/edmonton-journal-graham-2019/170546502/}} He interviewed again for the same vacancy in 2021, but remained with TSN.{{cite web|url=https://3downnation.com/2022/01/19/paul-graham-to-remain-at-tsn-following-job-interview-with-edmonton-elks-report/|title=Paul Graham to remain at TSN following job interview with Edmonton Elks|date=January 19, 2022|website=3 Down Nation|access-date=April 17, 2025}}

Graham expanded coverage of the World Junior Championship and the Ice Hockey World Championships to include more games, and began coverage for the Women's World Championship, and the under-18 men's and under-18 women's championships.{{cite web|url=https://www.iihf.com/en/news/65069/iihf_contributors_class_2025|title=IIHF Contributors' Class 2025|last=Podnieks|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Podnieks|date=1 January 2025|website=International Ice Hockey Federation|access-date=5 January 2025}} Bringing more international hockey to North American television, Graham produced coverage of the Spengler Cup and the Champions Hockey League. By the 2015 IIHF World Championship, TSN televised 58 of 64 games, which Graham felt would create more North American interest comparable to European enthusiasm for the event. When TSN first televised the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in 2018, he envisioned a marketable hockey event in August despite low in-person attendance at the time. He felt that by agreeing to televise 2019 event in Europe was part of a process of educating Canadians about the event.

In a 2018 interview, Graham considered the World Juniors his "baby". Due to his "passion and belief" in the event, TSN gradually expanded coverage to include all games of the tournament, when he insisted on "a big game feel". As of the 2021 Championships, all pre-tournament and in-tournament games were broadcast. When the IIHF began the tournament on Christmas Day, he anticipated a boost in viewer ratings.{{cite news|title=IIHF Looks to Establish a Tradition With Junior Games on Christmas Day|last=Jones|first=Terry|date=October 20, 2020|newspaper=Edmonton Journal|page=NP10|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/edmonton-journal-graham-2020/170547039/}} His final live event with TSN was the 2025 Championships, which exceeded 84 broadcast hours, and first made use of drones for new camera angles. Graham stated in 2025, "one of the things I'm proudest of is that Juniors are not just big in Canada", since multiple countries now access full coverage of the event.

In 2017, Graham received the Hugh Campbell Distinguished Leadership Award for "leadership and significant contributions" to the CFL. In 2018, he was inducted into the media section of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He received the IIHF Media Award during the 2025 IIHF World Championship in Sweden, for contributions to televising international ice hockey. Other awards during his career include Canadian Screen Awards, a CANPRO Award, and Gemini Awards.

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• [https://www.tsn.ca/video/tsn-s-paul-graham-leaves-a-lasting-legacy-in-international-hockey-ahead-of-retirement~3057213 TSN's Paul Graham leaves a lasting legacy in international hockey ahead of retirement] — Tribute video to Graham on TSN

{{Hugh Campbell Distinguished Leadership Award}}

{{Canadian Football Hall of Fame members}}

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Category:1959 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century Canadian businesspeople

Category:21st-century Canadian businesspeople

Category:Businesspeople from Edmonton

Category:Canadian broadcasters

Category:Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees

Category:Canadian television executives

Category:Canadian television producers

Category:CBC Television people

Category:CTV Television Network people

Category:Global Television Network people

Category:Northern Alberta Institute of Technology alumni