The "The Guy Known As 'The Geator With The Heater'" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a few online stories about one of my favorite radio and televisio heroes of the 1950s into the 2000s.  Guy with the name of Jerry Blavat...aka "The Geator with the Heater."  If you were a teenager in the 1950s you just had to have heard of him.  Jerry was born in South Philadelphia to a Jewish father and Italian mother.  His father was a "bookie" while his mother worked at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard during WWII.  Jerry began his musical career in 1953 when he debuted on the original Bandstand on WFIL-TV with Bob Horn and Lee Stewart.  Three years later he managed a national tour for Danny and the Juniors while also working as Don Rickles valet in 1958-59.  He entered the radio waves on January 15, 1961 at WCAU in Camden, N.J.  As a DJ he refused to follow a playlist, playing music from the heart, not a chart.  From 1965-67 Jerry produced and hosted a weekly TV show in Philadelphia called The Discophonic Scene which was a dance show for "all my yon teens" along the line of American Bandstand which began in Philadelphia a decade earlier.  It was at this time that he became known as "The Geator with the Heater" and "the big boss with the hot sauce."  He guess-starred on TV shows such as The Mod Squad, The Monkees, The Tonight Show, and The Joey Bishop Show.  In 1972 Jerry purchased a nightclub in Margate, New Jersey which he named "Memories."  In 1981 he was having dinner at a South Philadelphia restaurant with crime boss Steve Bouras and Raymond Martorano when Bouras was shot dead  in a contract killing.  In the early 1990s, an investigation by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation into organized crime's influence in the liquor business made public Blavat's association with the Bruno-Scarfo crime family.  Someone testified that Blavat had regularly paid a "street tax" to the crime family, had purchased a $40,000 yacht for crime boss Nicodemo Scarfo and was one of several individuals who purchased a condominium in Florida for Scarfo.  In exchange, the criminal organization secured employment for him throughout the state and also kept union organizers out of Blavat's nightclub.  In 1993 Blavat was inducted into the Philadelphia Music Alliance's Hall of Fame.  Five years later he was inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of a permanent exhibit in its Museum of Radio and Records.  In 2002, he was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia's "Hall of Fame".  On January 15, 2020 Blavat celebrated his 60th consecutive year on radio.    He continued to broacast on local radio seven days a week and perform at several record hops and events a week in the greater Philadelphia area.  He was a regular columnist for the Atlantic City Weekly for over 20 years and wrote his column, "Geator Gab," for the New Jersey Free Press.  He continued to be the DJ during the summer at his night club in Margate, New Jersey called "Memories."  In July of 2011, Blavat's autobiography, "You Only Rock Once: My Life In Music", was published by Running Press.  After its third printing it was released in paperback and as an audiobook in 2014.  Four years later Jerry was voted "Best Philly Icon" in a reader's poll conducted by Philadelphia Magazine.  Jerry had four daughters, Kathi Furia, Geraldine Blast, Stacy Braglia and Deserie Downey.  He also had five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.  He was separated from his wife Patricia since 1976 and was in a long-term relationship with Rosalie (Keely) Stahl since 1989.  Jerry died in hospice at Methodist Hospital following complications from myasthenia graves on January 20, 2023 at the age of 82.   His close friend Keely confirmed his death.  I can still picture Jerry on Channel 6 out of Philadelphia, playing the oldies over and over again.  I would head home after high school on weekdays, turn on Channel 6 out of Philadelphia and watch Jerry Blavat.  But, my latest memories of Jerry were when my family would visit the Jersey Shore and Jerry would be on either the radio or TV out of Philadelphia.  If you ever heard him on TV or even the radio, you would never forget him!  One of the most influential personalities I can ever remember.  "The Geator with the Heater" will live on forever in Rock & Roll History.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

"The Geator with the Heater"