Dini Petty

Dini Petty
thumb
Born15 January 1945
Kingston upon Thames, Greater London, England, UK
OccupationHelicopter Pilot, TV & Radio Host, Author
GenreChildren's Literature

Dini Petty (born January 15, 1945) is a Canadian television and radio host. At 22, wearing a trademark pink jumpsuit and working for Toronto radio station CKEY, she became the first female traffic reporter to pilot her own helicopter. She clocked 5,000 hours as pilot-in-command of a Hughes 300.

Three people sitting up on the back seat of a corvette, most likely participating in a parade or procession.
Dini Petty, left, beside fellow broadcasters J D Roberts and Jeanne Beker in a parade in March 1982.

Later, at Citytv Toronto, she worked as a writer, reporter and co-anchor, with Gord Martineau, of evening newscast CityPulse at 6.[1] There she also hosted an afternoon program, Sweet City Woman. Later, on Citytv's daily talk show CityLine, Petty established herself as one of Canada's foremost television talk show hosts.[2][3] She left her evening news anchor position to concentrate on CityLine. From May 1987 to 1989, Petty also anchored Citytv's short-lived 5:30 p.m. news and current affairs program CityWide.

In 1989, Petty moved to CFTO and the Baton Broadcasting System.[4] Her popular hour-long general interest talk show, The Dini Petty Show, aired until 1999.[2][3]

In the 2000s, Petty hosted Weekends with Dini Petty, a syndicated weekly radio program focused on health and wellness for baby boomers. Sheila Copps succeeded her as host of Weekends.

In August and September 2010, Petty returned to guest-host several episodes of Cityline while host, Tracy Moore, was on maternity leave.

In 2016, Petty relaunched a product called Luuup Litter Box, partially through using a Kickstarter platform.[5]

  1. ^ "CITYPULSE: Tabloid TV news". Chatelaine. Vol. 58, no. 11. November 1985. p. 12. ISSN 0009-1995. 1715423051 – via Proquest.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Zerbisias, Antonia (1989-12-14). "Champions of breakfast fight for early TV audience". Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont., Canada. pp. C4. ISSN 0319-0781. 436118877 – via Proquest.
  4. ^ Zarzour, Kim (1990-01-18). "Dini Petty Stronger than ever Fame has cost her several marriages along with her privacy and safety but the girl with the pink helicopter is flying high with a new TV show". Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont., Canada. pp. L1. ISSN 0319-0781. 436114913 – via Proquest.
  5. ^ "Former TV host Dini Petty is starting a business again … at 71". The Globe and Mail. March 9, 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2017.