Beloved radio DJ Bob Charger dies at 71

Beloved radio disc jockey Bob Charger, 71, known across Philadelphia for spinning oldies on 98.1 WOGL, died Friday. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Born Carmen J. Jacovini in South Philadelphia, he went on to have a career that spanned decades of radio and television stations in Philadelphia and the region, Las Vegas, Houston, and eventually, Jackson, Miss. In the Philadelphia area, however, he was best known for his 20-year stint at WOGL (known affectionately as “Oldies 98”), where he hosted a weekly top-20 countdown and the Brunch with the Beatles show.

Mr. Charger grew up as a media obsessive, according to a death notice prepared by his family, drawing comic books before landing at WNJH in Hammonton, N.J., as a teenager. Following his graduation from South Philadelphia High School, Mr. Charger started writing music columns for local newspapers.

From there, Mr. Charger’s career took him on a tour of the region’s radio stations — WCAM in Camden, WAMS in Wilmington, and WMID in Atlantic City, to name a few — before he landed in the big leagues: WIBG 99 (known as “Wibbage”), which was once one of Philadelphia’s most popular radio stations. Mr. Charger also was a DJ at 56 WFIL and 610 WIP before becoming a weather person and morning show host for a CBS affiliate in the South.

“Bob knew everything about the entertainers of the ‘60s and ‘70s,” said Ross Brittain, a DJ at 107.1 WWZY who overlapped with Mr. Charger at Oldies 98 during the late 2000s. “And he had a warm voice, great timing. He’d never talk over the vocals on the record.”

“He could tell you how long a song was to the second,” said Leigh Richards, a longtime friend of Mr. Charger’s and the chairman of Broadcast Pioneers, an industry organization where he once served on the board. “He was savant-like. … I wish we could’ve saved his brain.“

Brittain said Mr. Charger was the kind of guy who “would connect everybody to everybody,” gathering broadcasters from different stations to talk shop at the Pub in Pennsauken, where he and Mr. Charger would split a pitcher of beer down the middle. And at WOGL, Brittain said, Mr. Charger liked to play cheerleader during their radio-thons for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, sticking around for his coworkers’ shows late into the day.

“He was so proud to be on the air in Philadelphia,” Brittain said. “To him, this was the top of his career.”

Later, Mr. Charger would work behind the scenes as a documentary film producer with Character Driven Productions, a South Philly-based production company that worked on the Wages of Spin, a docu-series that chronicled Philadelphia’s music scene for PBS.

Throughout it all, Mr. Charger was known across the broadcast industry as a natural mentor and benefit host. For Broadcast Pioneers’ holiday luncheon, Richards said, Mr. Charger would emcee as Santa Claus.

“That hat got a lot of mileage,” Richards said.

PHL17 producer Jason Lee attributes much of his success to Mr. Charger, who took Lee under his wing as an unpaid intern for Jerry Blavat at WPGR. Mr. Charger would let Lee run the boards during his shows on late Saturday afternoons, eventually going to Blavat directly to advocate for Lee to get his own turn on the air. Lee did — on Oct. 3, 1992, he recalled, directly following Mr. Charger.

And when Lee earned his first full-time broadcast job in the ’90s at B101, Mr. Charger was outside the studio to take Lee for coffee after his first overnight shift. They went to a Dunkin’ Donuts, Lee said, and Mr. Charger wouldn’t stop bragging about him to the cashier.

“I couldn’t have thought of a better way for my first ever radio show to begin,” said Lee. “He didn’t have to help me, but he did.“

Mr. Charger is survived by his sister Donna Colavita and brother Joseph Jacovini. He was the uncle of Gianna Jacovini and Erica Barabusci, as well as the great-uncle to two boys and a girl: Jacob, Joseph, and Elaina.

A graveside service was held for Mr. Charger on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon. Donations in Mr. Charger’s name can be made to the American Heart Association, Box 840692, Dallas, Texas 75284-0692.