THE MOST INTERESTING MAN IN BROADCASTING: DARREN DUPONT

By: Andrew Benson
SoundsAcrossThePlains.com

For many Saskatchewan hockey players, playing in the National Hockey League is a dream and for Darren Dupont, growing up in Wynyard, Sask., he wanted nothing more than to be in the big leagues.

“I wanted to play in the NHL like every other kid my age,” he said.

Unfortunately for him, he never made it to the NHL, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t made a career for himself in the world of sports. Dupont instead turned to sports broadcasting.

“When I graduated high school, I went to (the University of Saskatchewan) and took arts and science,” he said.

“I was playing senior hockey back home in Wynyard,” continued Dupont. “I was traveling back and forth and at one sportsman dinner, we had Darren Dutchyshen as a guest speaker.”

Dutchyshen, born in Regina, Sask., is a long-time anchor and journalist with TSN. Seeing someone from Saskatchewan make it big in the business inspired Dupont seek acceptance at the Western Academy Broadcast College in Saskatoon.

“I dropped out of university within my first semester and went to broadcast school in February of 2006,” said Dupont.

Dupont began searching for jobs while in school. He applied for a radio job in Prince Albert, Sask., but didn’t take it as he also made the team with the Regina Thunder football club.

However, in the weeks leading up to the season, Dupont began developing tendinitis in his knees and ended up getting cut from the football team. 

During this time, he found himself working at Dairy Queen just trying to get by, with only $11 in his bank account.

But only four days after he got cut, Dupont received a call from one of his old broadcast school classmates, Mike Henschel, offering him a play-by-play job with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League Kindersley Klippers.

After two years with the club, Dupont ended up taking a job in Chetwynd, B.C., covering the Dawson Creek Junior Canucks from 2006 to 2008. 

“They made me news director, program director and sports director,” he said, noting he thought he needed those experiences on his resume to get a Western Hockey League job.

But after a severe car accident in B.C. after a game one night, Dupont began to rethink all the work he had put into broadcasting and decided to return to school in Saskatchewan.

This time however, he focused on a business degree rather than broadcast.

“It was a fallback plan for me,” said Dupont. “I didn’t realize how much I loved business until I went back to school.”

However, for the second time in his university career, Dupont dropped out.

The business and sports broadcast combo had begun to take off and was becoming his full-time job.

One of the most important games for Dupont came in 2014 when he was asked to broadcast a U of S Huskies football game. Dupont had previously done primarily local radio programs but had always wanted to be on television.

And this was his big break.

“You can kind of tell from a producer point of view if they have that extra something inside and that ‘it’ factor that can develop into a strong on-air presence,” said Dave Roberts, a sports producer for Shaw at the time, who helped in giving Dupont the chance to broadcast on a national scale.

“I could tell right away with Darren that he had that tremendous drive and passion for broadcasting,” said Roberts.

Roberts continues to be a long-time producer in Dupont’s career and works with him regularly today.

On top of broadcasting, Dupont has put his unfinished business degree to good use. In 2014, Dupont Media was born.

“I like broadcasting and it’s fun,” said Dupont. “And I hope to continue to do games at the highest level possible, but Monday to Friday, 90 per cent of my day, I want to build a business. I just think it’s incredibly exciting.”

 A business that now runs a sports talk show called The Rod Pedersen Show, which airs nationally everyday on Game Plus Network, and live streaming on YouTube.

While Dupont runs the business, he also co hosts the show with Pedersen.

“We really are the Ying and the Yang,” said Pedersen, who met Dupont at Saskatchewan Roughriders training camp in 2015, and the idea for the show was born. “He is the complete opposite of me in a lot of ways and it’s for that reason we work well together.

“I had just sort of been through the ringer, and I wanted to just have fun again, and he with this show provided that opportunity,” explained Pedersen, who said he has spent everyday since the show began excited to be on air.

In 2021, Dupont’s hard work paid off in a big way, as he earned himself the Paragon Entrepreneur of the Year award.  And now, in his play-by-play career, Dupont has started working as the voice of the Saskatchewan Rush lacrosse team.

As for what’s next for Dupont, he said it’s hard to say where life may take him, but he’s excited for whatever opportunities might come his way.