John DeBella is an American DJ in

Philadelphia 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 ...

, Pennsylvania on 102.9 WMGK-FM. He was born in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, New York.

Career

Before arriving in Philadelphia, DeBella did a stint at

WLIR WLIR was a radio station that played a new music/modern rock format on the frequencies 92.7 FM, 98.5 FM, and 107.1 FM from the 1980s into the 2000s. Bob Wilson, longtime WLIR employee and historian, created the website WDARE (Dare FM), which m ...

Garden City. In the early 1980s he hosted ''The DeBella Travesty'' and helped to introduce the ''Dare to be Different'' new wave format on WLIR. During that time he befriended singer

Joan Jett Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin, September 22, 1958) is an American singer, guitarist, record producer, and actress. Jett is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and for earlier founding and per ...

and received a

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile meta ...

for his efforts in promoting Jett's chart-topping hit " I Love Rock and Roll". He became famous in Philadelphia as part of

WMMR WMMR (93.3 FM, "93-3 WMMR") is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group, through licensee Beasley Media Group, LLC, and broadcasts an active rock radio format. ...

morning zoo Morning zoo is a format of morning radio show common to English-language radio broadcasting. The name is derived from the wackiness and zaniness of the activities, segments, and overall personality of the show and its hosts. The morning zoo conc ...

, along with former WLIR co-alumnus 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 before being overtaken by ''

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...

''. After WMMR dropped DeBella, Stern made sure he worked at exactly the same station as himself. Every year he would host the "DeBella DeBall," which was held on December 7, the date was emphasized in promos with

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

saying "a date which will live in infamy." DeBella's favorite musician was

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

and he enjoyed discussing Gabriel's many hits on the air. Throughout the mid 1980s, DeBella did on-air promos for the morning and afternoon cartoon blocks on

WTAF WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Market ...

Channel 29. In 2002, he returned to radio hosting, working with

WMGK WMGK (102.9 FM, "102.9 MGK") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts a classic rock radio format. The broadcast tower used by the station i ...

. His show runs from 6–9 am. The show features cohosts Dave Gibson and Steve Vassalotti and the goofy antics of the three. The show is not only a talk format but also plays many classic rock songs throughout the morning. Included are contests and games that vary, and a carnival chance wheel for random song play, some submitted by listeners. Appearances by guest comedians and musicians are frequent. The show almost always closes with the song "

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" is a comedy song written by Monty Python member Eric Idle that was first featured in the Python film '' Life of Brian'' and has gone on to become a common singalong at public events such as football matc ...

" by

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadwa ...

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

fame. "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," with "Bright Side" call-in comments by listeners, was a staple ending of his WMMR show, and again at WMGK. DeBella then signs off his broadcast with "Have a great day, Philadelphia. Don't take any crap from anybody."

Community activism

Every spring, DeBella sponsors an annual Dog-Walk in

Green Lane, Pennsylvania Green Lane is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The population was 490 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Upper Perkiomen School District and Boyertown Area School District. History The William and Caroline Schall House was added ...

, Park, in the nearby Montgomery County suburbs. He also heads the annual "MGK Turkey Drop," with CityTeam Philadelphia, held every year two days before Thanksgiving. Listeners are encouraged to drop off turkeys or cash donations to a number of pre-advertised drop-off points. In 2020, the event collected over 12,000 turkeys. On June 19, 2020 he hosted the 14th annual Veterans Radiothon that benefits the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service Center. Since 2007, John DeBella has raised over $2,000,000 for the VMC, $157,726 in the 2021 VMC drive. One on-air donation of $10,000 was made by rocker Rod Stewart in 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Debella, John American radio DJs Radio personalities from Philadelphia Hofstra University alumni 1951 births Living people People from Queens, New York