Philly Radio: Harvey Holiday To Sign-Off At WOGL

The on-air light for Harvey Holiday is going off after nearly 50 years of being a staple of Philadelphia radio.

The legendary radio personality took to Facebook on Oct. 15 to announce that his show on WOGL will be ending later this year. Holiday, whose real name is Harvey Lavey, had been appearing on that station since 1989.

Holiday will be getting a multi-day send off, starting on Dec. 1 and concluding on Dec. 12, reports  PennLive.com.

"Most radio personalities don't get the chance to say goodbye on the air, but I will be lucky enough to do so.... for 12 days," he said in his Facebook announcement. "That's right, 12 days! WOGL is giving me and you, my listeners, MUCH respect by giving me 12 days to say thank you, share memories, and celebrate."


Holiday has been in broadcasting for a half-century or more.

1992

He started out in the mid-sixties working at WYNS 1160 AM (now WBYN) in Lehighton, Pennsylvania and served the Allentown market. From there, he went to WRAW 1340 AM in Reading and then on to WAAT 1300 AM (now WIMG) in Trenton. It was the oldest operating station in the entire state of New Jersey.

Next, Harvey went to WMID 1340 AM in Atlantic City. The station was a powerhouse in the 50s, 60s and early 70s. The only time, Holiday left the Delaware Valley was to jock on WSAR in Fall River, Massachusetts.

In 1970, Harvey Holiday moved to WDAS AM & FM. There, he was Program Director of WDAS-FM (plus an on-air shift) and later became Research Director for both AM & FM.

In 1985, he left the station to run WFIL 560 AM, an oldies station at the time. He also worked at Power 99, WPGR and WIOQ where he did morning drive.

On July 2, 1989, he started “Street Corner Sunday” from 7 pm until 12 midnight on WOGL. A year later, he went full-time at WOGL and has spent more than the last decade doing mid-day.

At the time, Holiday referred to the induction as "the highest honor that a radio person can get," adding that "when you look at the list of people that I'm joining on the Walk of Fame, it's the Mt Rushmore of the music business."