R.I.P.: Mike Bowe, Longtime Philly-Area Personality

Mike Bowe ('50-'26)

Mike Bowe, a longtime Philadelphia-area disc jockey whose calm, familiar voice defined decades of local radio at WMGK, WPEN, WHAT and other stations, died Monday, Sept. 14, at his home of complications from cancer. He was 76.

An Army veteran, devoted Phillies fan and proud son of Gloucester City, N.J., Bowe spent more than 40 years as a host and DJ in studios and at remote broadcasts, dance parties, fundraisers and other events. 

He was best known for music shows at WMGK from 1977 through the early 2000s, a stint at KISS 100 in the 1990s, and work at WPEN and WHAT from 2000 to 2011. After 2011 he continued on other local stations and iRadioPhilly.com.

Colleagues and listeners credited him with making WMGK’s Saturday Night ’70s show a mid-1990s hit. “He was the very foundation of that success,” fellow DJ Chris McCoy said. McCoy added that Bowe “had something intangible. He made you feel like he knew you, and you knew him.”

While at WMGK

Fans and coworkers described a “calming and smooth voice” and “velvet intonations,” calling him “loyal, dedicated, witty” and praising a “down to earth and friendly style.” Listeners remembered him as “truly a master of this craft,” “one of the best ever” and “a memorable radio legend.”

Bowe saw that connection as the job. “I like to think I communicate with people,” he told the Courier-Post in 1987. “I think I can relate the same way to somebody whether he’s on Ninth Street in South Philly or at a bank in Center City.” Of his on-air manner he said: “It’s laid-back but in a street kind of way, as opposed to slick.”

He teamed with other popular DJs on morning, afternoon and evening shifts, interviewed performers, took listener calls, and broadcast from Phillies games and charity events. In 1989 he dressed as George Washington to mark the reopening of the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge after repairs. He often worked remotes from favorite clubs and pubs, rode shuttle buses with listeners to concerts, and spun records at nightclubs, holiday parades and private events in Philadelphia and South Jersey.