Pat Polillo, former crusading GM at KYW-TV

WHEN PAT POLILLO delivered an editorial on KYW-TV back in the '80s, it was not only his listeners who perked up and paid attention, but also the politicians and public officials he was pressuring for change.

He would take his crusades into the streets and other on-site locations. He once stood on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge waving his arms and crusading for one-way bridge tolls. He ended each editorial with the line, "I'm Pat Polillo, and this is the address," inviting viewers to send letters, which they did - by the hundreds.

Pat Polillo, vice president and general manager of KYW-TV in the '80s, died Tuesday of a brain tumor. He was 75 and lived in Cape Cod, Mass.

His career in broadcasting spanned nearly 40 years, but he also had careers in government, journalism, education and community service.

"He was brilliant, he was restless, he was an innovator who turned the TV industry inside out when he arrived here," said Joanne Calabria, vice president of public affairs for CBS Television stations, whom Pat hired in 1981. "He was colorful. He became a personality himself. He took his agenda directly to the people."

Pat Ciarrocchi, a CBS 3 anchor, was hired by Polillo in 1982.

"Pat believed that Philadelphia and its surrounding communities deserved competent government, and he envisioned that a TV station could be an advocate and a champion for that," Ciarrocchi said. "I found his approach to be personally inspirational. In fact, I learned from him that helping a community is really a TV station's highest calling."

Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky recalled that when he covered TV in the '80s, he often squabbled with Polillo. "I found him to be a highly focused, argumentative, bristly sort of guy," Bykofsky said.

"Eventually, I came to understand him better, and vice versa, and we became what might be called friendly enemies. What I remember most was his gray, spiky, Caesar-style haircut, a quick temper, but also a real love of words."

Howard Eskin, WIP radio broadcaster, said that Pat gave him his first chance in TV in 1982. "He wanted to break stories and he had no fear of controversy," Eskin said. When Eskin discovered that Leonard Tose wanted to move the Eagles out of Philadelphia, Pat gave him the green light on the story - and the Eagles stayed.

"One of the reasons was that Pat Polillo had guts," Eskin said.

Polillo came to Philadelphia in December 1980, from KPIX-TV in San Francisco. It was one of numerous cities that benefited from Pat's unique conception of TV news. He also had been general manager of Channel 6 here in the '60s. At Channel 3, he organized the I-Team concept of investigative journalism that won awards before it died in 1985.

Pat was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., and raised in Baltimore, where he took his first job at a radio station while still in school. He graduated from St. John's College, in Annapolis, and received a master's in Germanic studies from Johns Hopkins University. His career also included stints as a management consultant; as a teacher of biology, music, German and math; and as a special agent for the Army's Counter Intelligence Corps in Germany.

For the past 10 years, he lived in Cape Cod with his wife, Dr. Kristine Soly.

Services: Will be private. *