Montford told the academy rector, Mr. William Dewar, that he would become a journalist and, after completion of his
National Service, he joined the News as an office boy, before making the graduation through the ranks to reporter, working for the News; then the Daily Record before joining the sports desk of the
Evening Times. While there, he covered numerous sports, but it was football that became his main focus, and he was asked by the BBC's well-known producer Peter Thomson to do some match reports for radio. These went well as a radio broadcaster, and, when BBC sports editor John Wilson joined Scottish Television in 1957, he asked Montford to join him in the new commercial visual age. Montford's first audition in Maryhill Burgh Hall was dismal, but he was given another chance at the Theatre Royal and more than passed muster. With his pleasant, distinctive voice, a singular asset; he joined
Scottish Television in August 1957 as a continuity announcer and sports reporter, where Montford shared the opening night announcing duties with Jimmy Nairn, He was then chosen to present STV's new sports programme,
Scotsport (originally
Sports Desk), where he remained as presenter for 32 years. In all, he hosted over 2,000 editions of the programme that made him a household name across Scotland. He also presented
Radio Clyde’s version of
Desert Island Discs (billed as Montford's Meeting Place) where he interviewed many famous people who dropped by for a chat with the STV legend that was an unmissable sample of Clyde's weekend schedule in the 1970s and 1980s as well as writing the Scotsport Annual among other books. Throughout a long and hectic career, He interviewed all the greats from
Bobby Jones,
Ben Hogan,
Jack Nicklaus,
Arnold Palmer and
Gary Player to name amongst a few famous sport players whom Montford had the pleasure of meeting over time. Despite being committed to Scotsport, Montford continued to continuity announce with STV by covering irregular shifts as a relief continuity announcer (often out-of-vision, sometimes in-vision) on occasions of holidays, illness or other staff absences - where he would often read the lunchtime and evening Scottish news bulletins, announce the daytime and evening programmes as billed and close the station at around midnight with, of course, the friendly and reassuring closedown sequence when “we hoped you enjoyed our programmes today and you will join us again in the morning at 9.30am”, His easy confidence made him one of the station's most popular personalities. He also presented the Scottish version of
World of Sport on
STV and
Grampian - with live coverage from England of events which were often not shown in their entirety due to the regional sporting events taking place in Scotland,
Scotsport Special was also aired on Cup Final day, when the
Scottish Cup Final was taking place on the same day as the Wembley event, with the Wrestling also being moved from its pre-lunchtime slot on Cup Final days back to the expected 16:00 slot in Scotland. Montford also commentated or presented items on many other sports, particularly ice hockey – a favourite of his – and golf, where his work for
ITV brought him to the notice of a wider public. During the
1978 FIFA World Cup, a technical fault with the feed from Argentina prevented ITV from broadcasting
Hugh Johns' commentary on the Scotland vs Peru game, so Montford's commentary, originally only intended for Scottish viewers, was used on the entire network (the same fault affected the
BBC in reverse, with Scottish viewers having to listen to
David Coleman instead of
Archie MacPherson). Montford's final edition of the long-running
Scotsport programme was live coverage of the
1989 Scottish Cup Final. After retiring from television at the age of sixty years, Montford left
STV and continued to comment on Scottish football, both in the national press and in the matchday programme at
Morton, he also concentrated on playing golf at
Glasgow Golf Club at
Killermont. The Variety Club marked his retirement in 1989 with an all-star dinner. Among the guests were
Andy Cameron,
Ian St John, and John Henderson, the former headmaster who, in the early-1950s, persuaded Montford to write to the BBC for a radio audition. In July 1991, Montford returned to STV to host a week-long stint of five
Evening Call shows In late-2010, Montford served as an occasional commentator on the Greenock Morton webcast. In May 2010, Montford received the
SPFA Special Merit award for his services to football broadcasting and journalism alongside fellow sports broadcaster Archie MacPherson. ==Other positions==