Shock jock calls it quits

Controversial radio host Jeff Fillion says he will leave Quebec City radio station CHOI-FM.

Fillion is a popular shock jock whose raw language and insults contributed to the station losing its licence.

Speaking on air Monday, he said his last morning show would be April 1.

Fillion is being sued for $700,000 by Quebec City weather reporter Sophie Chiasson. Her court case against him wrapped up last Friday, Canadian Press reports.

Last August, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission refused to renew the broadcast licence of CHOI-FM because of the large number of complaints it has had about the station since 1997.

The station is still on air pending an appeal in federal court.

But Fillion says he sacrificed himself for the company, and is paying the price in the media frenzy surrounding his latest court case. He is quoted as saying he is being demonized in the court of public opinion.

On-air comments by the shock jock sparked about 20 complaints in the last half of 2004 alone, according to newspaper Le Soleil.

But Fillion says he refuses to stifle his opinions. He says he may take another job in radio eventually.

In its decision not to renew the licence for CHOI-FM the CRTC said that comments made by its hosts "tended or were likely to expose individuals or groups of individuals to hatred or contempt on the basis of mental disability, race, ethnic origin, religion, colour or sex."

Hundreds of the station's supporters gathered in Quebec City and Ottawa last summer demanding politicians intervene to overturn the decision.

The station is facing further lawsuits related to comments by Fillion and another on-air host.

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