The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Jack Lamar
WCAM Radio

Jack Lamar (whose real name was Lamar Spewak) served in the U.S. Marine Corps from April 1944 until his honorable discharge as a corporal in August of 1946.

In 1948, he completed a course in radio and drama at the Bessie V. Hicks School of Drama in Philadelphia. His classmates included Charles Bronson and Jack Klugman.

His radio career began at WCAM Radio, Camden NJ. He was there from 1948 until 1980 as the morning drive disc jockey. During his time with WCAM he also served as general manager and program director and also worked in news, sports, sales and promotion. Some of his interviews included Johnny Mathis, Mitzi Gaynor, Glenn Campbell, and Patti Page to name a few.

Over his career, he did radio play-by-play high school basketball and football along with University of Pennsylvania Ivy League football games.

He was the racetrack announcer at Philadelphia Park in Bensalem, PA from the opening in 1974 to 1987. He also broadcasted the feature race daily over many radio stations in the Philadelphia and South Jersey area. Over his racing career, he also was track announcer at Dover Downs Delaware, Marlboro Downs Maryland, Hialeah Florida, Garden State Park in NJ, and Atlantic City Racetrack.

He hosted two daily cable television racing shows on NYT cable in Cherry Hill, NJ from 1978 to 1986. The cable network served over 125,000 homes in Southern, New Jersey.

Featured as the voice of racing for the nationally syndicated television show “Greatest Sports Legends,” the show was hosted by such famous personalities as Reggie Jackson and Tom Seaver.

He also supplied the voice for the racing game, “They’re At The Post,” which was distributed nationally. Jack retired in 1988 and passed away in April 2006 at the age of 80.

On Friday evening, November 18, 2011, Jack Lamar was inducted posthumously into the Broadcast Pioneers' Hall of Fame.

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