Don’t Miss The Final John DeBella + Pierre Robert Crossover This Friday on WMMR
A note from Kevin Gunn: As Philadelphia radio legend John DeBella winds down his celebrated career, WMMR’s Pierre Robert will host a one-of-a-kind workforce block Friday June 23rd. Quite simply, John DeBella will BE the workforce block.
There’s way too much common ground to cover from the roughly 10 years that Pierre followed John’s show at WMMR. And like a relay race in a track meet, the daily handoff from John to Pierre was ‘must-hear’ radio for fans of the station. We called it “The Crossover.”
Be good, stay out of trouble, buy bonds, save chicken fat, join the Wacs, don’t take any wooden rhetoric, all those things disc jockeys say before they get off the air, including Hi There Willie!
Their styles couldn’t be more different—the brash New York native, and the hippie from San Francisco. The Ramones vs The Dead; Sports Fan vs Sports What? Italian vs French!
Each weekday, as John brought The Morning Zoo to a screeching, crashing halt, Pierre would arrive to survey the damage, and proceed to restore order. It was like a salad dressing, with two divergent ingredients combining for an unlikely flavor.
John, who ran his show like a Swiss timepiece, would often lose patience waiting for his ‘ever-so-slightly-behind’ relief to arrive at 10AM. Most times yes, sometimes not. To make his point, John would often play a song from one of Pierre’s all-time favorite bands, The Kink’s called “So Tired Of Waiting For You,” as a dagger-like way to make his point.
But the whole “opposites attract” dynamic worked well, and a strong brotherhood emerged. As a result, some of Philly’s best radio happened at “The Crossover.”
This Friday at noon, John will join Pierre on the Workforce Blocks to look back at shared times, laughter and love, courtesy of two Mt Rushmore types whose mutual love of radio, music and Philadelphia has narrated many a lifetime in our town.
It’s impossible to predict the stories that await. Maybe the time that Pat Croce handcuffed the two at JDB’s bachelor party; Or maybe we’ll hear why John was the only one around here to call Pierre ‘Willie,” Or the time in Atlantic City when a certain band demanded a limo to take them from the hotel located on the boardwalk…to the boardwalk for a beach concert.
It’ll be radio that will bring warmth to your heart, a smile to your face, and the occasional palm to the forehead. It’ll be The Last Crossover, this Friday, round noon, on 93.3 WMMR. It’d be a shame if you missed it!
This July, Kevin Gunn will celebrate 42 years with 93.3 WMMR. During his career, Kevin did multiple “tours of duty” producing both John DeBella and Pierre Robert. He’s seen it all.
