John DePetro

John DePetro is a New England radio talk-show host on WPRO (AM), television host and analyst, stand-up comedian, and on-line columnist.

Background

DePetro was raised in Edgewood, Rhode Island, the youngest of seven children to Thomas and Virginia DePetro. With seven children in the house, the DePetro household was always bustling with a combination of comedy and debate. The DePetro children were encouraged to be competitive in both academics and athletics. At a young age DePetro was a competitive basketball and baseball player. Remembered by childhood friend Mayor Steve Laffey, "John DePetro was one of the fastest players I had seen in Edgewood sports. In baseball he could steal at will. In basketball he could race down the court making easy layups. I had never seen anyone so competitive at such a young age."

Attending St. Paul School, DePetro was an honor student who also showed an early interest in comedy and broadcasting. In the sixth grade he interviewed Rhode Island radio icon Salty Brine. DePetro told Brine he aspired to also be on the radio someday. Brine laughed and told him he sounded perfect for the business. DePetro then proudly played the interview for the students of Miss Gannon's class at Show and Tell on a new tape recorder that he had received for Christmas. As president of the eighth grade class, DePetro told of his desire to host a talkshow on the radio and TV. While classmates listed pro-hockey player and astronaut as desired professions in the class yearbook, DePetro listed "To talk on the radio". DePetro attended Bishop Hendricken High School where he developed a reputation as a confidant comedian. While a freshman at Hendricken he volunteered at WBRU, the Brown University station, in Rhode Island. By his senior year Bishop Hendricken began to give credits for work at WBRU.

After high school DePetro stayed in Rhode Island where he majored in Communications at Rhode Island College. He quickly made an impact on the campus radio station, WXIN, first becoming the music director, followed by Program Director and finally, General Manager. He parlayed his position into an internship at KROQ in Los Angeles.

From 1990 to 1998, he worked for ABC Radio in New York City. DePetro was torn between his desire to be on-air or broadcast management. In 1998 DePetro left New York City to be the full time host of the John DePetro Show on 920 WHJJ in Providence. He has been listed on the “Heavy One Hundred”, a list of the 100 most important radio talk-show hosts in America, but did not make the cut for the top 100 in 2008. [http://www.talkers.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=44] Dan Yorke, who occupies the afternoon slot on WPRO, was ranked 92 out of 100 for 2008. Also in Providence, DePetro had a six-year run on WHJJ where he commented on corruption involving Rhode Island officials. He devoted much air-time to high profile public officials like congressman Patrick Kennedy and Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci. DePetro achieved local minor celebrity status in Providence by becoming an on-air critic of the Mayor of Providence. As documented in the book "The Prince of Providence" DePetro tore into Cianci on a daily basis. DePetro was a regular on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning program, appearing more than 15 times as he commented on Cianci's federal trial. Currently, The Buddy Cianci show runs on WPRO in the slot immediately following The John DePetro show.

The John DePetro Radio Show was also simulcast daily on COX 3 Television, a local public access cable show. While in Providence, DePetro's program was the forum for the revelation that sexual harassment charges against the Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives had been settled. The controversy ultimately led to the departure of John Harwood as speaker. DePetro was the host of "The John DePetro Show" on WRKO in Boston, Massachusetts, for several years, from 9:00am to noon. He was fired after calling a [http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2006/11/john-depetro-termination-boston-talk.html gubernatorial candidate a "fat lesbian"]

DePetro made appearances on Fox News, CNN, ABC News and MSNBC. He has also been a guest on "Sean Hannity Show" Dan Abrams and Bill O'Reilly's the Factor. On February 7, 2007, it was announced [ [http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/news.apx.-content-articles-JAR-2007-02-07-0003.html News - Turnto10 ] ] that DePetro had been hired by WPRO AM 630 in Providenceto do a daily talk show beginning Feb. 14, 2007.

In October 2007, DePetro again achieved notoriety by uttering the phrase [http://mediamatters.org/items/200710010003?f=h_latest "White people go to Harlem for "either" drugs or prostitutes,"] earning him a derogatory mention on Countdown with Keith Obermann.

DePetro is married with three children; Daniel, Kate, and Jacqueline.

WRKO

In July 2006 DePetro was suspended for calling former Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chairman Matthew J. Amorello a “fag”. " [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/04/wrko_firing_sets_off_debate_on_speech_issue/?page=full WRKO firing sets off debate on speech issue] ", Andrea Estes and Suzanne Ryan, "The Boston Globe".] [ [http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/03/D8L5N5R81.html Radio Host Fired Over Candidate Insult ] ]

In November 2006, a day after the last gubernatorial debates, he called the Green-Rainbow Party candidate Grace Ross a "fat lesbian".Although he apologized on air after saying it and calling Ross and apologizing to her personally, WRKO still fired him and his show's engineer.

Ratings Scandal

DePetro became involved in a controversy over Arbitron Co. ratings reports for the Providence market in August, 2008. DePetro's ratings among 25-54 year old listeners were reported to have jumped from a 2.0 share of the audience in the winter to 6.8 percent in the spring. Arbitron began an investigation and determined that a "media affiliated household" in the Providence market had submitted ratings service diaries that claimed six people aged 27-34 listened for a total of 109 hours between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. during a single week -- an astounding average time of 3 hours and 38 minutes reported spent listening each day to a four hour program. The six listeners involved all lived in a single household in East Greenwich, the community in which DePetro lives. Arbitron announced plans to reissue the Providence ratings report without the diaries that show an abnormal listening pattern. ] [ [http://bostonherald.com/jobfind/news/media/view.bg?&articleid=1111584&format=&page=1&listingType=jfmedia#article ] Arbitron policies prohibit media-affiliated households from filling out ratings service diaries and many radio stations have strict policies against violating the guidelines.

DePetro, a frequent critic of politicians who refuse comment on embarrassing stories, refused to comment on the scandal swirling around him.

References

External links

* [http://www.wxin.org WXIN Radio, Rhode Island College]
* [http://www.depetr0.com/ Official Website]