Born and raised in Port Colborne, Derek Wills is in his ninth season as the Radio Play-By-Play Announcer for the National Hockey League's Calgary Flames on Sportsnet 960 The FAN. As a teenager, Derek's first job was with the City's Parks and Recreation department as a "rink rat" at the Westside Arena and Teeder Kennedy Youth Arena. Wills' broadcasting journey started in the early 1990s as a student at Lakeshore Catholic High School, where he worked with the audio/video department on various productions and co-founded "CROC", the school's in-house radio station. At the age of 18, with no-on air experience, Wills volunteered to fill-in for the broadcaster who failed to show up. Derek spent the next five years volunteering with Rogers and COGECO, hosting and doing play-by-play for Golden Horseshoe Jr. "B" Hockey, hosting the Scotties Tournament of Hearts curling championship, doing play-by-play for St. Catharines Roma Wolves socccer, co-hosting the station's news magazine show, filling-in as co-host of the morning show, and covering high school, college, and university sporting events in various roles. Wills also broadcast Jr. "B" games on 1220 CHSC and CJRN 710 radio for two seasons.
