Introduction
Dini Petty (born January 15, 1945 in Kingston upon Thames, Greater London, England) 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.
Later, at Citytv Toronto, she worked as a writer, reporter and co-anchor, with Gord Martineau, of evening newscast CityPluse at 6. There she hosted an afternoon program, Sweet City Woman. Petty also anchored CITY-TV's short-lived 5:30 p.m. news and current affairs program CityWide from May 1987 until 1989 when she left for CFTO-TV.
On Citytv's daily talk show CityLine, Petty established herself as one of Canada's foremost television talk show hosts. She left her news anchor position to concentrate on CityLine.
In 1989, Petty moved to CFTO and the Baton Broadcasting System. Her hour-long general interest talk show, The Dini Petty Show, aired until 1999.
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.
Personal life
In 1980, a documentary camera followed her pregnancy and the birth of her son Nicholas.
Publications
Petty has written a children's book, The Queen, the Bear, and the Bumblebee, published in 2000. Joanne Findon (professor of English literature at Trent University, Ontario) described the book as "a charming fable about the value of being yourself and recognizing your own strengths." Publishers Weekly was less flattering: "Despite a bumblebee protagonist, there's little to buzz about in this didactic picture book."