Popular 6abc weatherman Jim O’Brien died while skydiving on this week in Philly history
On Sept. 25, 1983, on his 814th jump, O’Brien’s parachute became entangled with another’s and he fell to his death.
News traveled fast.
It was the top story in Philadelphia: Every broadcast network, every major periodical, and every radio broadcast led with the tragic news.
Jim O’Brien, 6abc’s upbeat weatherman, died in a skydiving accident. He was 43.
Philly famous
In Philadelphia, O’Brien wasn’t just a TV weatherman. He was a celebrity.
Back in the 1970s and ’80s, Philadelphia’s stars weren’t in Hollywood. They were on our local TV news stations.
We idolized our newscasters. Why? Because they were on TV. Only stars were on TV. And our stars weren’t coming live from New York or Los Angeles. They were coming live from City Avenue.
The famous Action News theme refrain is, “Move Closer to Your World.” But we wanted to move closer to theirs.
And O’Brien was an endless source of sincere joy. He called thunderstorms “boom booms.” High-pressure systems were the “good guys,” and those low-pressure systems were the “bad guys.” He called his unusual approach to delivering the daily forecast, “talkin’ to the folks.”
And they loved him for it.
Philly’s favorite cowboy
Originally from Galveston, Texas, O’Brien went to Baylor University, but left after suffering a football injury. His first TV job was in Waco. He’d jump jobs across the United States and Canada before arriving in Philly, where he started as a radio disc jockey in 1969. He graduated to weather and news reporting positions on 6abc after joining the station in 1971.
He rose to become one of the most popular personalities in Philadelphia television history. And he was a key part of Action News dominance.
But he wasn’t ego-driven. He was an adrenaline junkie.
He skied and backpacked. He drove motorcycles and leapt from airplanes.
He began parachuting in 1978, and regularly jumped with members of a club at New Hanover Airport. He parachuted into Veteran’s Stadium on opening day of the Phillies baseball season in 1983.
“It’s like riding a motorcycle in the sky,” he’d tell friends, The Inquirer reported.
And on Sunday, Sept. 25, 1983, on his 814th jump, his parachute became entangled with another’s and he fell to his death at New Hanover.
Losing their joy
The city, and his colleagues, had lost more than a colleague and a newscaster. They lost a source of joy.
“There’s a lesson in this,” legendary 6abc anchor Jim Gardner, choking back tears, told The Inquirer days later. “Any time we go on the air and say that ‘so and so had an accident and was declared dead at the scene,’ someone out there is having the same reaction that we’re having now.”
“Every time you report a tragedy,” he said, “it has a tragic impact on somebody.”