Voice of an era is silenced

CALLING ALL MY BEATS, beards, Buddhist cats, big-time spenders, money lenders, teetotalers, elbow benders, hog callers, home-run hitters, finger-poppin' daddys and cool babysitters.

He was "your man with the plan, on the scene with the record machine."

He was Hy Lit, and Philly radio had never heard anything like him, and never will again. He was unique, with an imaginative patter that he laid on his listeners, mostly the young, while playing the music that drove them wild.

His son, Sam Lit, called it "magic."

"My father was the champion of the spoken word," Sam said. "The man had a magic with the spoken word."

"He had a mellifluous voice," said Kal Rudman, music magazine publisher and philanthropist and a former disc jockey.

"He had a whole bunch of tremendous hip lines. They reflected such a lively personality."

Hy Lit, the South Philadelphia kid who captivated the youthful Philly audience with early rock 'n' roll, sneaked the Beatles into town with the help of Frank Rizzo, brought numerous early musical stars here, ran successful dance parties, and didn't retire until 2005, died Saturday under mysterious circumstances. He was 73 and lived in Lower Merion.

Hy had hurt himself in a fall on Nov. 4 and was admitted to Lankenau Hospital to have a knee drained. Over the next week and a half, he was transferred to Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital and then on Thursday to Paoli Hospital, where he died. The cause of death has not been determined.

"I am greatly concerned," Sam said. "Something went terribly wrong. This should not have occurred."

Sam said he planned to meet with a lawyer today to discuss possible legal action.

"The guy went into Lankenau with a knee injury and two weeks and five days later he's dead," Sam said. "This should not have happened."

Hy Lit, who was devastatingly handsome in his youth, was a key participant in the development of rock 'n' roll music from its origins as rhythm and blues, a mostly black phenomenon.

In fact, in his early days as a disc jockey on WHAT, a predominantly black station, most of his listeners thought he was black.

When he made his first public appearance at the old Arena, at 46th and Market streets, in the late '50s, he was almost booed off the stage by the largely black audience, which did not believe he was Hy Lit.

"I had a tough time convincing them, and the boos, the screams and the jeers were the loudest I ever heard," he wrote for an upcoming biography.

Finally, the late Georgie Woods, from soul radio rival WDAS, came out on stage, silenced the audience and convinced them that the white man really was Hy Lit.

After he switched to WIBG, he held down the 6-to-10-p.m. slot through most of the '60s. His show attracted 71 percent of all listeners on the weekend, an unimaginable number today.

In 1964, there was rising hysteria about an English rock group called the Beatles. Hy wanted to bring them to Philly for a concert at old Convention Hall, but a distraction was needed to get them into town through the mobs that were waiting for them.

Frank Rizzo, the future police commissioner and mayor, was then a police captain. He hit on the idea of smuggling the Beatles, who had performed in Atlantic City, into Philly in a Hackney's fish truck, while a decoy limousine drew away the fans.

Other early stars he brought to Philly included Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye and others. He hosted shows at the Uptown Theater and on WKBS-TV (Channel 48).

He hired a kid named Joe Tamburro to assist with the record hops he hosted. Tamburro, who became a popular disc jockey known as "Butterball," is now program director of WDAS (105.3-FM). He remembers Hy as a "fascinating, dynamic impresario."

"He was probably the best format disc jockey in Philly," said legendary entertainer Jerry Blavat. "He was able to follow a format and still have his own persona."

Jerry lamented that with Hy Lit's death, that type of disc jockey, as also personified by the late Joe Niagara and others, is a thing of the past.

"Today, people just want to hear the music," he said.

Hy, who called himself "Hyski O'Roonie McVouti O'Zoot," had no intention of getting into radio when he came back to Philly after graduating with a communications degree from Miami University.

An excellent athlete, he was playing in a basketball game between some Philly players and a team of radio industry employees.

During the game, Charlie O'Donnell, then program director of WHAT, told Hy he admired his voice and invited him to take a time slot on Saturday morning.

Hy accepted, and the rest, as they say, is history.

In recent years, Hy suffered from Parkinson's disease, but, his son insists, it didn't slow him down. Hy and Sam recently started a music Web site, www.hylitradio.com, which features oldies music and videos.

His last station was WOGL (98.1-FM), which he sued for age discrimination after it reduced his hours. The suit was settled in 2005, when Hy retired.

He was active in raising money for the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. His many honors included being inaugurated into the Broadcast Pioneers' Hall of Fame in 2003. He has a spot on the Avenue of the Arts Walk of Fame, received the first March of Dimes Lifetime Achievement of Radio Award, was named Oldies Personality of the Year in 1999 by Radio and Records Magazine, and other awards.

Hy was divorced from his first wife, the former Miriam Uniman, in the 1970s. His second wife, Maggie, died in 2000.

Besides his son, he is survived by a daughter, Benna; three grandchildren; and a sister.

Services: 2 p.m. today at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala-Cynwyd. *