Irving Homer (May 29, 1924 – June 24, 2009) was an American

radio talk show Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

host and television personality, primarily in the

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

market.

Early career

Born in Philadelphia, Homer was an

Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, flying

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

planes out of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

with the

15th Air Force The Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base. It was reactivated on 20 August 2020, merging the previous units of the Ninth Air Force ...

. He flew 15 bombing missions as a pilot. For several years after the war, he was a member of the Reserves. He spent much of his adult life in a variety of careers, including bartending (he owned two taverns) and selling equipment for a pizza company. In the 1972 U.S. presidential election, Homer was the vice presidential

running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint Ticket (election), ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate ...

to John Mahalchik on the America First party ticket. Mahalchik and Homer garnered 1,743 popular votes, and zero electoral votes in their unsuccessful election bid.

Radio career

After stints at several small suburban Philadelphia talk radio stations in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he joined WWDB-FM in Philadelphia, and hosted a talk show on current affairs from 1975 until 2000, when the station changed its format to music. His show was the top talk show for most of that time. During his time at WWDB, Homer became a vocal and notable public presence in the resurgent anti-tax movement. This ultimately led to him being labeled by the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

as a V.T.P., or Violent Tax Protestor, a title he referred to as a dubious honor, given that his "violence" was simply free speech under the

1st Amendment The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate an establishment of religion, or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, th ...

. Starting in 1991, he appeared as a regular panelist on ''Inside Story,'' a news and public affairs show on Philadelphia's

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

affiliate,

WPVI-TV WPVI-TV (channel 6), branded on-air as 6 ABC, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station ...

. Post-WWDB, Homer moved his talk show to a small local station,

WBCB-AM WBCB is an AM broadcast station licensed to operate on 1490 kHz for Levittown, Pennsylvania, and serving the areas of Bucks County, Pennsylvania and other parts of suburban Philadelphia. Its programming mixes news, talk, music and local sp ...

in Levittown, Pennsylvania. The Irv Homer Show on WBCB aired from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM from 2001 until January 2007. For a brief period between 2001 and 2002, Homer also hosted a Sunday evening radio show on CBS-owned Philadelphia news/talk station

WPHT-AM WPHT (1210 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station broadcasts a talk radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its transmitter and broadcast tower are in Moorestown, New Jersey. The radio studios a ...

. Up until the time of his death, Homer continued to do periodic hour-long podcasts produced by his son, Ronn Homer, which were posted on his website. Because the show was taped, he did not take calls. In July 2008, he began a live Ustream broadcast, and started taking phone calls.

Death

Active until the very end of his life, Homer collapsed while giving a lecture at Eastern University. He was taken to

Bryn Mawr Hospital Bryn Mawr Hospital, part of Main Line Health, is a 264-bed acute care hospital located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1893, Bryn Mawr Hospital has been named among ''U.S. News & World Report’s'' Best Hospitals in the Philadelphia region ...

, where he was pronounced dead later that evening. The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia posthumously inducted Homer into their Hall of Fame in 2010.

References

External links

Irv's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Homer, Irv American talk radio hosts American television personalities Television personalities from Philadelphia Radio personalities from Philadelphia United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II 1924 births 2009 deaths United States Army Air Forces officers Jewish American military personnel Eastern University (United States) 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews