Ross Porter (Canadian broadcaster)


Ross Porter is a Canadian former broadcast executive and music writer.

Career

Porter was a producer and host for CBC Radio 2, where he was associated with programs including Night Lines, Latenight and After Hours, from 2004 to 2018 he was president and CEO of the Toronto non-profit jazz radio station CJRT-FM. Porter was a pop culture reporter for CBC Television's and CBC Newsworld's On the Arts. He was named vice-president of the jazz television channel CoolTV in 2003.
Porter published a consumer guide to jazz recordings, The Essential Jazz Recordings: 101 CDs, in 2006. He is a two-time winner for Broadcaster of the Year at Canada's National Jazz Awards, in 2002 and 2004. In 2009, the Jazz Journalists Association nominated Porter for the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Broadcasting.
In June 2014, Porter was made a member of the Order of Canada for his contributions to broadcasting and developing Canadian talent over a forty-year career.
In 2018, Porter's radio show Music to Listen to Jazz By on JAZZ.FM91 was the station's highest rated.

Allegations

In 2019, after a group of employees, past employees, and contractors made unproven allegations of sexual misconduct against Ross Porter, Porter stepped down as President and CEO of JAZZ.FM and the board of directors was overthrown.
While donors expressed strong support of the station, some were reportedly "angry" Porter was still employed at JAZZ.FM.; Porter made his final broadcast on April 27, 2019.