John Derringer

Last updated

John Derringer (born John Hayes on September 21, 1962) is a former Canadian radio personality. Though he worked in several markets in the 1980s and 90s, he's best known for his long association with CILQ-FM (Q107) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, initially from 1984 to 1993, and again from 2000 until 2022. [1]

Contents

Derringer lives in nearby Aurora. He hosted a weekday morning show, Derringer In The Morning, until it was suspended in May 2022. Throughout the early 2000s, 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. [2]

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. [3]

In 2012, he received the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal for his work with the Canadian Centre for Abuse Awareness. [4]

In May 2022, Derringer was suspended from Q107 pending an investigation after several former employees of the station, including Jennifer Valentyne, had accused him of misconduct and gender discrimination. [5] He and the station agreed to "part ways" permanently in August 2022. [6]

History

Derringer was born September 21, 1962. Born John Hayes, he changed his name to Derringer because his brother, Bill Hayes, was in the radio broadcast business and chose to have a different last name.[ citation needed ] 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 to 1995 he was the morning host at CHOM-FM in Montreal, Quebec. 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. [2] 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. [7]

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. [8]

Every year Derringer, a motorcycle enthusiast, leads "The B.A.D. Ride", a charity ride for the benefit of the Distress Centres of Toronto. [9]

Controversy

In 2003, Justice Richard Schneider of the Ontario Court of Justice filed a lawsuit against Derringer seeking $3 million in damages for libel. [10] 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." [11] 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". [11] 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". [11]

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". [10] 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- to 54-year-old age group, in particular, men, find the program humorous." [11] 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." [12]

On May 22, 2022, former Q107 radio host Jennifer Valentyne posted a video on Instagram describing years of verbal abuse and gender discrimination by an unnamed co-worker. While she did not name names in the video, Valentyne separately confirmed that she had filed a Canadian Human Rights complaint against Corus Entertainment Inc., Q107's parent company, and that John Derringer is named in the complaint. [13] Shortly after the video was posted, several former Corus employees made similar allegations against John Derringer and Corus itself, which they say turned a blind eye. Shortly after the accusations were reported, Corus placed the station's “Derringer in the Morning” show on hiatus as it undergoes a formal ethics investigation conducted by Rachel Turnpenney from Turnpenney Milne LLP. [13] [14]

On August 9, 2022, Corus Entertainment released a statement confirming Q107 Toronto and Derringer had parted ways, effective immediately. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CFNY-FM</span> Radio station in Ontario, Canada

CFNY-FM is a radio station licensed to Brampton, Ontario. Owned by Corus Entertainment, the station broadcasts a modern rock format serving the Greater Toronto Area. Its studios are in Downtown Toronto at Corus Quay on Toronto's Harbourfront, and its transmitter is located atop the CN Tower.

<i>Breakfast Television</i> Canadian morning program television brand

Breakfast Television (BT) is a Canadian morning television program that is broadcast by Citytv. Currently hosted by Sid Seixeiro and Meredith Shaw and first premiering in 1989, the program originated as the morning show of the network's original station CITY in Toronto.

CFRA is a news/talk formatted radio station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. The station broadcasts on the assigned frequency of 580 kHz. CFRA's studios are located in the Bell Media Building on George Street in Downtown Ottawa's ByWard Market, while its 4-tower transmitter array is located near Manotick.

CFIQ is a commercial radio station licensed to Richmond Hill, Ontario, and serving Greater Toronto, Southern Ontario and Western New York with a talk format known as "640 Toronto". Owned by Corus Entertainment, CFIQ's studios are located at the Corus Quay Building in Toronto; despite the station's city of licence being a suburban community north of the city, the transmitter is located in the Niagara Region town of Lincoln, 60 kilometres southwest of Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CILQ-FM</span> Radio station in Toronto

CILQ-FM is a commercial radio station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, known as Q107. The station broadcasts a mainstream rock format and is owned by Corus Entertainment. CILQ's studios are in the Corus Quay building on Dockside Drive at Toronto's Harbourfront neighbourhood.

Q107 is the on-air brand name of several radio stations in Canada and the United States. Stations using this brand name typically broadcast within the 106.9 to 107.9 range on the FM radio, and have the letter Q in their call sign, often as the final letter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CKIS-FM</span> Radio station in Toronto

CKIS-FM is a Canadian radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media, the station broadcasts a Top 40/CHR format branded as KiSS 92.5.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CHOZ-FM</span> Radio station in St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador

CHOZ-FM is a Canadian radio station based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Its main St. John's transmitter broadcasts at 94.7 MHz, with additional transmitters located throughout the island. The station, known as OZ FM, is one of the various media properties of the Stirling family; this includes local television station CJON-DT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CKGE-FM</span> Radio station in Oshawa, Ontario

CKGE-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 94.9 FM from Oshawa, Ontario. The station broadcasts an active rock format under the brand name 94.9 The Rock.

Maureen Holloway is a Canadian radio personality, entertainer and comedian who is best known for her radio segments The Last Word. Until September 1, 2014, Holloway used to broadcast live, weekday mornings, in consecutive segments with the hosts of Canadian morning shows in various cities.

Vinyl Tap was a Canadian radio show hosted by Randy Bachman, musician alumnus of the famous Canadian rock bands The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive. The show ran on CBC Radio from 2005 until 2021, when it was cancelled. A syndicated version aired on commercial radio from 2022 to 2023. A shorter podcast version was also available featuring Bachman's anecdotes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CFGQ-FM</span> Radio station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

CFGQ-FM is a radio station in Calgary, Alberta. Owned by Corus Entertainment, it broadcasts a classic alternative format. CFGQ's studios are located on 17th Ave SW near Westbrook Mall, while its transmitter is located at 85th Street Southwest and Old Banff Coach Road in western Calgary.

Steve Anthony is a former Canadian broadcaster. He gained attention throughout Canada as a MuchMusic host, or "VJ" from May 1987 to November 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Valentyne</span> Canadian television personality (born 1967)

Jennifer Elizabeth Valentyne is a Canadian television personality. Her longest running role was on Breakfast Television in Toronto for 23 years where she went from being a weather specialist to hosting the "Live Eye" and being the stand in co-host. From 2016 to 2020, she had various positions on Corus Entertainment properties, first as the host of The Bachelor & The Bachelorette Canada After Show on W Network (2016-2017), as co-host on Derringer in the Morning on Q107 in Toronto (2017-2019), and co-host of the Toronto edition of Global News Morning (2019-2020).

Jesse and Gene is a Canadian morning zoo radio show that aired in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada radio market between 1986 and 1997. The duo of co-hosts consisted of Jesse Dylan and Gene Valaitis.

Humble & Fred is a Toronto-based Canadian podcast, featuring co-hosts "Humble" Howard Glassman and Fred Patterson.

Jeffrey David Newfield, known as Scruff Connors, was a Toronto-born Canadian radio broadcaster known for conducting controversial on-air practical jokes.

Jake Edwards, also known as Bro Jake or Brother Jake, is a Canadian radio personality based in British Columbia. Edwards has been best known for his fictional comedy character "The Champ". For his skill, Edwards won the 2001 Canadian Music Network Radio Personality of the Year Award. For the same year, Edwards' show on Rock 101 was among the highest-rated in the BBM Canada ratings. Vancouver's Classic Rock 101 (CFMI) had been the home of Bro Jake for over 17 years. In 2013, Corus Entertainment declined to renew the contract of its veteran radio personality. All-sports, CKST-AM, jumped at the chance to pair Bro Jake with veteran sport broadcaster, David Pratt, for a more entertainment oriented morning show. The duo debuted the new morning show to the Vancouver market in September 2013. August 31, 2019 marked his last day on terrestrial radio and TSN 1040. Edwards was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame in 2019.

<i>The Morning Show</i> (Canadian TV program) Canadian breakfast television show

The Morning Show is a Canadian breakfast television show airing on Global. The program was first shown only on Global Toronto as a three-hour local morning show, but now serves exclusively as a national entertainment and lifestyle program. The program is hosted by Jeff McArthur and Carolyn Mackenzie. It debuted on October 11, 2011, from a ground level storefront studio at the Corus Entertainment Building on 121 Bloor Street East in Downtown Toronto. On September 16, 2016, the show moved out of their Bloor Street Studio to the ET Canada studios. This was a temporary studio while a new one was being constructed at Corus Quay. The show moved to its new studios at Corus Quay on November 21, 2016.

Kolter Bouchard is a Canadian radio and online personality based in Toronto. He co-hosted the afternoon drive program on CFNY-FM from late 2018 until March 2024, first with Meredith Geddes and from May 2023 with Casey-Jo Loos. Bouchard was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2020 when he was in his late twenties and is in remission.

References

  1. ↑ "John Derringer finished at Q-107 amid investigation". Toronto Sun. August 9, 2022. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Wake up Toronto! Derringer takes on the mornings on Q107". Canada NewsWire. 2001-11-23.
  3. ↑ "Canadian Music Week 2015". Canadian Music Week 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  4. ↑ "As John Derringer celebrates his 5,000th show on Q107, let's appreciate the DJ who's been rocking Toronto for nearly 30 years". Toronto Star . 7 November 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  5. ↑ "'Derringer in the Morning' radio show placed on hiatus amid misconduct investigation". MSN .
  6. 1 2 "Radio host John Derringer and Q107 'part ways' amid misconduct investigation". CBC News. August 9, 2022. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Paul McCartney: The Space Within US (2005)". www.dvdmg.com. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
  8. ↑ Ballantyne, Robert (2004-06-05). "$218K raised for shot mom". The Toronto Star. pp. B07.
  9. ↑ Bond, Steve (2005-05-28). "Motorcycle charity runs this weekend". The Toronto Star. pp. G31.
  10. 1 2 Powell, Betsy (2003-09-25). "Judge sues radio host for $3M". The Toronto Star. pp. A03.
  11. 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.
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. 1 2 Ahsan, Sadaf (26 May 2022). "Former Corus employees allege Q107′s John Derringer's behaviour has long been a problem". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  14. ↑ "'Derringer in the Morning' radio show placed on hiatus amid misconduct investigation". CBC News. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.