obituaries
DJ Jerry Blavat Dies at 82
J Andy Gotlieb | JE Editor
erry Blavat, a legendary disc
jockey and music impresario
known as “The Geator With the
Heater” and the “Boss With the Hot
Sauce” died on Jan. 20. He was 82.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported
that an autoimmune neuromuscular
disease called myasthenia gravis and
other health problems were the causes
of death.

Blavat grew up in South Philadelphia,
the son of an Italian Catholic mother
and an absentee Jewish father, accord-
ing to a 2016 Jewish Exponent article
about his induction into the Broadcast
Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame.

His parents met at the movies when
his racketeer father ducked into the
theater to escape the police.

“There was an empty aisle seat, so
my father sits down and puts his arms
around my mother,” Blavat told the
22 JANUARY 26, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Exponent. Weeks later, she ran away
and married him.

The Inquirer said his father was
known as Louis the Gimp and ran an
illegal bookmaking operation while his
mother was called “Lucy the Riveter”
for working at the Navy Yard during
World War II.

Blavat said he didn’t get much
exposure to the Jewish religion, saying
he was “raised by the nuns and the
Italian side,” but he did experience the
cultural side.

“I saw the Jewish world, and I saw
the Italian world,” he told the Exponent,
describing visits with his father at Lew
Tendler’s, a Center City watering hole
that closed in 1970.

“I’d see the Jewish guys drinking
bourbon in suits,” Blavat said. “The
Italians at home were in T-shirts playing
bocce.” Blavat got his start as a teenage
dancer on “American Bandstand,”
family once a year, during the
holidays. But my sechel was
Jewish. Aside from appearances on
“American Bandstand,” Blavat
was road manager for Danny
and Juniors of “At the Hop”
fame. In 1960, he started his
first radio show, on which he
broke many unknown acts.

In 1965, he made the jump
to TV, first hosting “The
Discophonic Scene” and then
“Jerry’s Place.” He also was in a
1968 episode of “The Monkees”
and made cameos in movies
“Desperately Seeking Susan”
and “Rocky V,” according to
xpn.org. He served as an on-air
talent for numerous area radio
stations over the years, popular-
izing the oldies format. He also
owned a club called Memories
in Margate, New Jersey, where
Jerry Blavat
Courtesy of Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia he continued to broadcast on
his Geator Gold Radio network.

Blavat was included in a Rock
helping to pick records for original and Roll Hall of Fame exhibit in 1998
host Bob Horn and becoming friends and published his memoir in 2011.

During his career, Blavat rubbed
with Sammy Davis Jr. — Blavat made
a name for himself by promoting Black elbows with many celebrities, serving
musical artists — who asked him how as Don Rickles’ valet and meeting
Frank Sinatra, who nicknamed him
he learned to dance.

“Everyone in South Philly dances like “matchstick” because of his slim build,
the Inquirer reported. There also were
this,” he replied.

Blavat listened to local Black DJs and rumors of alleged connections to
learned that popular tunes sung by organized crime.

Long after Blavat’s heyday, his influ-
white singers were often written and
performed previously by Black artists. ence could still be felt in Philadelphia.

“I tell people everywhere I go that
He’d push Horn and others to play
those versions, earning the respect of I’m the product of the Philadelphia
music scene. People ask me, what
Black musicians.

“I love the Geator,” Aretha Franklin does that mean? I tell them it comes
said in Blavat’s biography “You Only down to one thing: I grew up listening
to the Geator,” Todd Rundgren said
Rock Once: My Life in Music.”
As Blavat’s professional life evolved, when he inducted the Hooters into the
it afforded him more exposure to male Philadelphia Music Alliance Hall Walk
of Fame in 2019, 26 years after Blavat
Jewish role models.

“All the record label owners, the club himself was inducted, according to the
owners, they were Jewish guys,” Blavat Inquirer.

“Look, I’ve been blessed,” Blavat
said in the 2016 Exponent article,
describing how their families embraced said in 2016. “I never intended to be
him and taught him the music business. where I am today.” ■
“I probably saw my Jewish side of the agotlieb@midatlanticmedia.com