John DeBella Marks 30 years In Philly Radio
If she didn't know it already, Lisa DeBella will now: her
husband of 17 years has been carrying on a 30-year love affair. But she needn't
worry: the object of his affection isn't a woman; it's Philadelphia.
How else do you explain why John DeBella, the 62-year-old
WMGK-FM (102.9) morning-drive host - a native New Yorker, no less - has been in
Philadelphia since the days when Ronald Reagan was president and Julius Erving
and Moses Malone were the talk of the town? Why else would he have hung around
even during the years when he was suffering professional humiliation and
personal tragedy?
There's nothing I love more . . . than this
city," insisted DeBella who earlier this month marked his 30th anniversary
on the air in the Delaware Valley. "This is a damn fine place to live. And
if you don't know it, too bad."
As he lunched on a shrimp Caesar salad at Chops on City
Avenue one recent afternoon, DeBella, who began his tenure here on WMMR-FM
(93.3), claimed it was pretty much love at first sight - or, more to the point,
at first sound - for him.
"When I came to Philadelphia [from rock outlet WLIR-FM
on Long Island], I remember the first day of driving around here. I'm driving
my car and listening to 'MMR just looking at the area and the radio is playing
everything that [FM rock] radio stations in America are playing, plus Robert
Hazard, plus the Hooters, plus Alan Mann plus the A's," he said, referring
to local musical acts the station supported in the early 1980s.
"On the Island, every [high-profile] band was a cover
band. There was no original music coming out of the Island. So when I came down
here and heard all that, I fell in love, musically, with the city first."
It didn't take much longer for him to make a connection with
the local populace. He explained how, in his early days here, he would take the
Chestnut Street shuttle between his Society Hill apartment and 'MMR's studios,
then overlooking Rittenhouse Square.
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