Making radio waves

At age 21, Paul Perrello left the confines of South Philly to embark on a journey into the unknown. He was adamant about making a name for himself in broadcasting, and was willing to travel cross-country to do it.

Venturing west, the go-getter landed an astonishing three jobs in the span of a year. Fortunately, one of them brought him back to the area he loves best.

Perrello now can say that his voice has been transmitted over the Philadelphia airwaves for the better part of 25 years.

Looking back on his career, the 47-year-old broadcaster also can say that his life has been just as captivating as the stories he’s covered.

"I’ve been able to cover a lot of great stories, meet a lot of great people — and do it all in my hometown."

And amid meeting the likes of Mother Teresa and dining with Ronald Reagan, Perrello has been happy to share a few tricks of the trade as a communications instructor at his alma mater, La Salle University.

"I made a promise that if I ever made it in this business, I would give back to the students," he says.

While Perrello’s official career in broadcasting didn’t begin until 1979, the 13th and Oregon native acquired plenty of experience beforehand.

At age 3, the future radioman was enthralled with children’s TV show Happy the Clown. He would don the clown’s signature vest, hat and marching sticks at such occasions as his sister’s christening.

Although his mother was mortified, he enjoyed the performance.

"I was bitten by the media bug at an early age," says Perrello, a 1976 graduate of then-Bishop Neumann High.

His first radio broadcast came much later, of course. At La Salle, he joined the campus station as a newscaster and eventually was promoted to general manager.

Among his most prized accomplishments, Perrello says, was receiving one of the first communications degrees the college ever administered.

Diploma in hand, he set his sights on landing a job — but finding one in broadcasting proved daunting.

"I applied everywhere under the sun," he says. "Nobody would hire me because of my South Philly accent."

This didn’t stop the then-21-year-old from fulfilling his dream. He made the bold move of accepting a job as a radio news reporter in very-rural Maquoketa, Iowa.

"I knew in this business, I would have to go where the jobs were," Perrello says.

The broadcaster, who rarely had set foot outside the Greater Philadelphia area by then, says the move helped him grow personally and professionally. But the change in scenery proved somewhat unique.

"It was a culture shock, coming from a big city and then being out in the prairies of Iowa," he says. "Their idea of rush-hour traffic was Farmer Jones’ cattle crossing the interstate."

In an effort to get back to the northeastern United States, Perrello accepted a job in Warsaw, N.Y., only six months after his move to Iowa. He again served as a news anchor for a local radio station.

Then, just four months later, Perrello landed another job much closer to home — as a news anchor for WCAM-AM (later changed to WSSJ) in Camden, N.J., a station that also transmits to Philadelphia.

He remains awed at the number of career opportunities that arose and led him back home so quickly.

"Sometimes you have to go clear across the country and you never get a chance to go home," he says of the profession he chose. "When I left Iowa, I thought it was going to take me five to 10 years to get back to Philadelphia."

But it was at Philadelphia’s WWDB-FM, which Perrello joined in 1982, where he covered some of the biggest stories of that decade.

Within the first few years of landing the job, he got the chance to interview Mother Teresa while she was visiting Norristown — an experience he describes as one of the highlights of his career.

Another pinnacle was covering the city’s notorious MOVE confrontation in May 1985. Members of the controversial group had resisted arrest and, after bouts of gunfire, city officials gave the order to drop a bomb on the group’s Powelton bunker. The blast destroyed 61 houses, killed 11 MOVE members and left more than 200 residents homeless.

The news anchor also was on-air during another tragic event — the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986.

But those tumultuous times also afforded him the opportunity to hobnob with the late President Reagan at the White House.

"It was an attempt by the administration to have reporters from all over the country meet with the president and others in the administration to talk about issues important to their local communities," he says of the experience.

Expanding his skills behind the microphone, the anchor was promoted to news director in 1987.

By 1996, however, WWDB was starting to outsource the news department. So, while Perrello was on the air at the station, another company also employed him. He moved on in 2000.

Though he is currently a news director for Metro Networks, Perrello says he can’t leave the airwaves just yet. The community can hear him in the afternoon on Oldies 950 WPEN-AM.

On Sundays, he also hosts his own talk show on WPHT 1210-AM, a program he describes as "all-encompassing." He interviews a range of community members, including doctors and lawyers.

One of Perrello’s daughters, Christie, may soon follow in her father’s footsteps, as the 19-year-old is serving as the program’s associate producer. Perrello and his wife of 20 years, Donna (formerly Lombertino), live with Christie and their 17-year-old daughter, Michelle, on the 3100 block of South Juniper Street.

An instructor at La Salle since 1982, the broadcaster says he has the satisfaction of knowing he was able to mold a few people in the industry.

And, whether behind the microphone or in front of a chalkboard, Perrello says he has been extremely blessed to perfect his craft in the city he calls home.

"I’m very fortunate and lucky to be doing what I’ve always wanted to do for so long."