Sid Mark, 88, Philadelphia DJ loyal to Sinatra for 65 years, has died

Sid Mark, 88, the radio DJ who entertained generations of listeners in Philadelphia and throughout the U.S. playing the new music of Frank Sinatra for far more than 65 several years, has died.

Mr. Mark’s demise was verified by David Heim, a communications supervisor for Audacy, the Philadelphia primarily based business that owns WPHT-AM (1210), the Philly radio station that carried Mr. Mark’s “Sundays With Sinatra” software. A bring about of loss of life was not supplied.

Mr. Mark’s longevity – and his loyalty to Sinatra – was famous. In addition with “Sundays with Sinatra,” he also experienced a very long running Philadelphia demonstrate referred to as “Fridays with Frank” and a nationally syndicated application “Sounds of Sinatra.”

All 3 were centered practically completely on the Hoboken, N.J. born saloon singer and learn of the Fantastic American Songbook whose audio Mr Mark never weary of, and with whom Mr. Mark had a decades-spanning friendship until eventually Sinatra’s loss of life in 1998.

In Sinatra-loving people, Mr. Mark’s radio demonstrates — marked by his elegant on-air existence and boundless enthusiasm for all phases of Ole Blue Eyes’ career, as nicely as his talent as a salesman for the show’s Italian food stuff sponsors — related generations.

Sundays With Sinatra’s marketing concept summed it up: “Your grandfather listened. Your mom listened. And now you listen.” And Mr. Mark’s show’s often featured a clip of the two good friends in discussion: “God bless you, Frank Sinatra,” Mr. Mark was listened to to say. “I love you also, Sidney ,” the singer responded.

On Tuesday, Audacy Philadelphia advertising supervisor David Yadgaroff said in a statement that Mark was the host of “the longest managing, single artist, syndicated radio application in The us,” which most just lately ran from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. this past Sunday, whilst it was a taped archive edition, as it has been in the new earlier during Mr. Mark’s wellness struggles.

Yadgaroff added: “We shed a gentleman who speaks for a dwelling, whose viewers has been enraptured by just about every phrase — eloquent and articulate. Sid’s radio profession spanned 65 yrs, the last 22 at Communicate Radio 1210 WPHT, and 43 a long time of national syndication. He introduced the music of Frank Sinatra from the standpoint of a pal as properly as a enthusiast …Sid was the main authority on Frank Sinatra and his entertainment legacy.”

David Dye, the Philadelphia rock DJ whose Dave’s Planet display airs on WXPN-FM (88.5) on Sundays and who has been a mainstay on Philadelphia radio because the early 1970s referred to as Mr. Mark “a real gentleman who who uncovered his niche and served Frank’s people. I cherished his do the job.” Dye mentioned that Mr. Mark’s devotion to Sinatra was these kinds of that his output organization was termed Orange Productions, named right after the singer’s preferred shade.

Stephen Johnson, who worked with Mr. Mark recording the “Sounds of Sinatra” syndicated plan at his Masters by Johnson audio facility in Narberth from 1983 to 2005, recalled numerous associates of Sinatra coming to to the Main Line to visitor on Mr. Mark’s show.

“We did a whole 13-7 days sequence with Tony Bennett. Angie Dickinson was on the present. Bobby Rydell was a regular.” What they all were drawn by, Johnson claimed, was Mr. Mark’s professionalism. “He was as elegant as they arrive. And he could sell anything. But far more than anything at all, he loved the new music.”

Pierre Robert, the WMMR-FM (93.3) deejay who not long ago celebrated 40 consecutive a long time on the air, marveled that Mr. Mark could do it for 65 straight yrs (help save for one particular exhibit he skipped in 1999 when he was recovering from open up-coronary heart surgical procedure.).

“There are pretty handful of legends like Sid,” explained Robert, who named Sinatra “the primary rock star.”

“First of all, it’s about the loyalty,” he mentioned. “And it’s further than staying an icon. It’s this amazing, charming gentleman, this form, very understated, not flashy person who seriously was brilliant.

And that brilliance was exhibited in the craft and the art of his radio operate, the place he could weave in any element about Frank’s daily life and vocation. The videos, the songs. And not just the hits, but the B-sides, the C-sides and the D-sides. He would participate in some thing and you’d say, ‘Wow, I by no means read that just before.’”

Mr. Mark was born Sidney Mark Fliegelman in Camden and graduated from Woodrow Wilson Large College in advance of serving in the U.S. Army from 1953to 1955. He was assigned to Camp Polk in Louisiana, exactly where he later said he witnessed racism and professional anti-Semitism. He was also struck by what he termed the “horrendous” heat. “There was an aged slogan,” Mark reported. “Write to the boys in Korea and pity the boys at Camp Polk.”

He was operating as a jazz DJ on the graveyard change on WHAT-FM in 1956 when a co-employee didn’t clearly show up, and he determined to engage in an hour of Sinatra. That started off a tradition that would past 6 and 50 % decades, as he moved to numerous distinctive radio stations.

In the early yrs, on the other hand, he experienced displays wherever he would participate in a variety of jazz artists on the radio, and from 1965 to 1975, he experienced a Tv demonstrate termed The Mark Of Jazz that ran on WPHL-Television set Channel 17 and later on on WHYY-Television Channel 12.

He was notably happy of the job he played in supporting Nina Simone’s career when she was living in Philadelphia and carrying out in Atlantic Town in the late 1950s.

“In her autobiography, she reported the cause for her results was a white Jewish disc jockey, Sid Mark,” he explained to All That Philly Jazz in 2016. “Nina was one thing else. We experienced several hours of discussions on the quite a few radio and Television demonstrates we did jointly … When i uncovered her, she was jus enjoying piano at a little joint in Philly at 22nd and Chestnut. It was a bar, and she was not singing, she was just enjoying piano.”

Seems of Sinatra was 1st syndicated nationally in 1979, and Mr. Mark was on WWDB-FM till 1998 when the station switched to a rock-and-roll format and canceled the show. The Philadelphia Daily News began a petition drive to hold him on the air, and he moved to WPHT, exactly where he would remain.

“I nonetheless totally love it. I want to do this till I just cannot do it anymore,” Mr. Mark stated in 2015. “But like Sinatra explained, stroll out the entrance door, right before they exhibit you the back doorway.”

Mr. Mark’s son Brian Mark claimed on Tuesday night time that he prepared to do new intros and wrap all-around segments to former taped Sunday with Sinatra and nationally syndicated Seems of Sinatra reveals that will include things like archived content and hardly ever aired interviews among Mr. Mark and Sinatra.

Aside from his son Brian, Mr. Mark is survived by his wife Judy Mark, his daughter Stacey Mark, and his sons Andy and Eric Fliegelman. No funeral or memorial providers are at present planned.