The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Broadcast Pioneers member John DeBella
Broadcast Pioneers Luncheon
Bala Golf Club, Philadelphia
Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Broadcast Pioneers member John DeBella is a Philadelphia air personality on 102.9, WMGK-FM. Born in Queens, DeBella did work at WLIR before coming to the Delaware Valley.

In the early 1980s, DeBella headed “The DeBella Travesty” and introduced “the Dare to be Different” new wave WLIR format. While at the station, John became friends with singer Joan Jett and received a gold record in promoting Jett's "I Love Rock and Roll".

DeBella was part the brains behind WMMR's “Morning Zoo,” with former WLIR personality Mark "The Shark" Drucker (later of KYW Newsradio fame). He was number one in the morning ARBs throughout most of the decade in the 80s. Every year, he hosts the "DeBella DeBall," which was held on December 7th. Promos included President Franklin Roosevelt speaking the words that it is "a date which will live in infamy.

John says that his favorite musician was Peter Gabriel and he enjoyed discussing Gabriel's many hits on the air. While being popular on WMMR, DeBella did on-air voice-overs for the WTAF-TV (Channel 29) cartoon blocks.

In 2002, he returned to radio hosting, working with WMGK (now sister station to WMMR). His show runs from 6 am to 9 am and features sidekick Jen Posner and producer Rob Calvert. DeBella closes the broadcast with "Have a great day, Philadelphia. Don't take any crap from anybody."

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com