- John DeBella
John DeBella is a radio DJ in
Philadelphia on 102.9 WMGK-FM.Before arriving in Philadelphia, DeBella did stints at WXXP Pittsburgh and
WLIR-FM Garden City. In the early 80's he hosted "The DeBella Travesty" and helped to introduce the "Dare to be Different" new wave format onWLIR . During that time he befriended singer Joan Jett and received a gold record for his efforts in promoting Jett's chart topping hit "I Love Rock and Roll".He became famous in Philadelphia as part of
WMMR 's Morning Zoo along with former WLIR alumni Mark "The Shark" Drucker. He was number one in the morning ratings through most of the 1980s and was a popular figure in the city of Philadelphia. Every year he would host the "DeBella DeBall " and was very popular with rock music fans. DeBella's favorite musician wasPeter Gabriel and he enjoyed discussing Gabriel's many hits on the air.During the late 1980s, when
Howard Stern was attempting to achieve dominance in the Philadelphia market, Stern heaped much scorn on DeBella, calling him "the ZooKeeper" and "Baldy".For the last several years, DeBella has worked with
WMGK . His show runs from 5:30am to 9:00am. The show features news and traffic by his co-hort Jen Posner and the goofy antics of the two are accompanied by producer Giant Brian (Carothers). The show is not only a talk format but also plays a number of classic rock songs throughout the morning including a 'Breakfast with the Beatles' segment from 7:10 until 7:20am. Additional appearances by Bill Henly, local NBC affiliate meteorologist at 7:05am and comedian Grover Silcox from appr. 8:00-8:45am every Thursday. The show almost always closes with the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life " byEric Idle ofMonty Python fame. John Debella then closes out his broadcast with "Have a great day Philadelphia. Don't take any crap from anybody."John DeBella frequently gives back to his Philadelphia community by offering a number of events throughout the year.Fact|date=September 2007 Every spring he sponsors an annual Dog-Walk in Fairmount Park, the largest park within city limits in the country. He also heads the annual "MGK Turkey Drop," held every year two days before Thanksgiving, where listeners are encouraged to drop off turkeys or cash donations to a number of pre-advertised drop-off points. In 2006 alone, the event collected over 6,000 turkeys. Every December 7, a 'date which will live in infamy,' John DeBella hosted his annual DeBella DeBall, a black-tie event that is reportedly the longest tradition in Philadelphia radio history. On December 7, 2006, the event celebrated its 25th anniversary.
In "tribute" to DeBella, the staff of WMGK (and at one time, the staff of WMMR when DeBella worked there) refers to the state of
Delaware on-air as "DeBellaware".At the end of June, 2007, Giant Brian left The John DeBella show to host his own morning show in Atlanta. He was replaced in late 2007 by Rob Calvert.
DeBella is married to Lisa, a real estate agent and ex-wife of
NFL Films presidentSteve Sabol . His first wife, Annette, committed suicide in 1992, not long after the couple's divorce. [http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/articles/3088/cover-story]External links
* [http://www.jdbshow.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=3088 Philadelphia Weekly 2002 article chronicling John's career]
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