It's the one he heard as a bullet whizzed past his head after he covered a bowls meeting in Dunedin in 1967.
"I was waiting outside for a taxi when I heard a gun go 'bang' and a bullet flew past my head. It goes to show; even covering bowls can be dangerous," he recalled, with a chuckle, this week.
The long-serving Otago bureau chief, who retired yesterday, has seen it all in his 45-year TVNZ career.
"The great thing about journalism is that every day is different and every day is a new challenge."
McDermott (64) started in television in Dunedin in 1967, working on Otago-Southland region bulletins such as Town and Around and The South Tonight.
The shooting tragedies in Aramoana and Every St and the 1991 murder of Kylie Smith (15) in Owaka were the toughest stories he covered, he said.
"You try to leave it at work, but things like that are very, very hard to let go of."
The Bain family murders at Every St in 1994 was the event "people have asked me about the most over the years", he said.
Technology had vastly improved modern media, Mr McDermott said, but there was one change he regretted.
"While we've got instant international news on satellites now, we're not as good at covering our own backyard any more." McDermott signed off at a farewell function at Forsyth Barr Stadium last night.
