John Derringer

John Derringer (born John Hayes) is a radio personality for CILQ-FM (Q107) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Derringer lives in nearby King City. He hosts a weekday morning show, Derringer In The Morning. Throughout the early 2000's, Derringer's opinions also appeared in the form of a regular column in the Toronto Sun. As of 2016, Derringer has been named "Radio Personality of the Year" by Canadian Music Week 10 times, and has been named "Favourite Toronto Radio Personality" by the Sun, Eye Weekly, "Now Magazine" and Top Choice Awards.[1]

In March 2012, Derringer received the Allan Waters Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame at Canadian Music Week in Toronto.[2]

Also in 2012, he received the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal for his work with the Canadian Centre for Abuse Awareness.

History

Derringer was born September 21, 1962. While attending St. Michael's College School, Derringer started as an operator in 1979 at CFTR (AM) in Toronto. That was followed by on-air work at CKJD in Sarnia, CFGO in Ottawa and K97 in Edmonton. He joined Q107 for the first time in 1984 and stayed until 1993. From 1993-1995 he was the morning host at CHOM-FM in Montreal. He went on to host Jock and Roll, a 90-second segment which featured a pre-recorded interview with an athlete or a rock musician. Jock and Roll was syndicated to more than 20 radio stations throughout Canada. In 1995, he took over Bob McCown's morning show at Toronto's sports radio station The Fan 590. For almost 5 years he hosted the Fan morning show with Pat Marsden.

Derringer returned to CILQ-FM in 2000, replacing Howard Stern as the morning host.[1] For a short time he supplemented his duties with an afternoon show for brother station CFMJ (Mojo Radio).

In 2005, Derringer was one of the interview subjects on Paul McCartney's "The Space Within Us" DVD.[3]

Philanthropy

As of Christmas 2015, the "Derringer's 13 Days of Christmas" fundraising campaign has raised almost $9 million for The Martin Kruze Memorial Fund and the Canadian Centre For Abuse Awareness.

In 2004, Derringer launched an all-day fundraising drive to benefit the family of Louise Russo, a 45-year-old mother of three who was hit by a stray bullet while ordering a sandwich at a Toronto restaurant on April 21, 2003. The bullet shattered her spine, leaving her paralyzed. The station raised CDN$218,000 for the family.[4]

Every year Derringer, a motorcycle enthusiast, leads "The B.A.D. Ride", a charity ride for the benefit of the Distress Centres of Toronto.[5]

Controversy

In 2003, Justice Richard Schneider of the Ontario Court of Justice filed a lawsuit against Derringer seeking $3 million in damages for libel.[6] On the May 29, 2003 episode of Tool of the Day, Derringer criticized the Judge's ruling in a child pornography case involving a 20-year-old man. Justice Schneider sentenced the man to 9 months house arrest, with no jail time, a sentence Derringer declared too lenient. Derringer called Justice Schneider a "supposed Judge", and a "disgrace to our justice system".[7] He went on to say sterner penalties for child pornography would not come about until "a Justice like [Judge Schneider] is gonna have evidence brought into court in a case like that of Yong Jun Kim, and it’s gonna be his kid being forced to perform fellatio on a man and sent around the world on the Internet".[7] The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) ruled that Derringer "made improper personal attacks on the judge", and that "[the] Derringer commentary also sanctioned or promoted possible personal attacks on the children of the judge".[7]

In response to the lawsuit and a complaint lodged with the CBSC by Justice Schneider's ex-wife, the radio station acknowledged Schneider's concerns while defending Derringer's actions as "without actual malice".[6] In a letter to Schneider, CILQ-FM stated that "the Program, like many radio shows, can sometimes be controversial in nature and not for everyone's taste. However, many of Q107's core audience, which is mainly adults in the 25-54 year old age group, in particular, men, find the Program humorous [sic]."[7] Derringer issued an on-air apology and, following the CBSC's ruling, the station was required to broadcast a series of announcements regarding the contentious statements.

Derringer was criticised for supporting the Ontario chapters of the Hells Angels in an August 31, 2005 column for The Toronto Sun. In it, he dismissed recent media reports about the Hell's Angels as "filled with innuendo, lies, half-truths and complete fabrications."[8]

References

  1. 1 2 "Wake up Toronto! Derringer takes on the mornings on Q107". Canada NewsWire. 2001-11-23.
  2. ↑ "Canadian Music Week 2015". Canadian Music Week 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  3. ↑ "Paul McCartney: The Space Within US (2005)". www.dvdmg.com. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  4. ↑ Ballantyne, Robert (2004-06-05). "$218K raised for shot mom". The Toronto Star. pp. B07.
  5. ↑ Bond, Steve (2005-05-28). "Motorcycle charity runs this weekend". The Toronto Star. pp. G31.
  6. 1 2 Powell, Betsy (2003-09-25). "Judge sues radio host for $3M". The Toronto Star. pp. A03.
  7. 1 2 3 4 R. Stanbury; M. Ziniak; H. Hassan; M. Maheu; M. Oldfield; J. Pungente (2004-10-02). "CILQ-FM re John Derringer’s "Tool of the Day"". Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. Archived from the original on 2006-10-24. Retrieved 2006-08-16.
  8. ↑ Reinhart, Anthony (2005-05-03). "Derringer under the gun for too many friends? Hells Angel arrest in Russo shooting may put Q107's straight-talking morning man in a bit of a bind". The Globe and Mail. pp. A13.
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