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Spinning Wax

A lifetime of loving music leads to the Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame.

by Ellen Ryan

As a Philadelphia native, David Dye ’72 had a head start at a spot on the Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame. Already spinning wax as a freshman at WSRN-FM— the Parrish Hall outlet that then barely reached the dorms — he applied to the influential rock station WMMR 93.3 FM on a dare from roommate Stephen Holt ’72. Six months later, he was working there on weekends.

Head shot of David Dye ’72 in front of shelves of CDs.

laurence kesterson

“I am sort of Mr. Friday Night,” says DJ David Dye ’72.

david dye ’72

Disc Jockey

The Philadelphia Inquirer later described him as a “Swarthmore College upstart.” He achieved some measure of fame around campus: In a story Dye’s told a few times, the History Department chair once called him over to ask, “David, which Creedence Clearwater album should I buy?”

After graduation, the job became full time — and fame soon extended beyond Magill Walk. From the Inquirer: “His impact at that stage of his career can be measured in part by noting that in the ‘A Deejay Saved My Life’ chapter of Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run memoir, the Boss is referring to Dye.” The DJ had heard the then-unknown Springsteen at a club, then played “Greetings from Asbury Park” on air.

On April 30, Dye was inducted into the Walk of Fame on South Broad Street along with composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, singer/songwriter Janis Ian, rapper Schoolly D, composer David Ludwig, Settlement Music School, and ’60s R&B group the Orlons.

“Philadelphia’s a little different from the rest of the country in that DJs are a part of the culture,” he says.

Dye has been part of regional culture for more than 50 years. He spent five years at WMMR, in the ’80s at WIOQ-FM, then with the popular “Funky Friday.” And 25 years of his music-and-interview show “World Cafe” were carried nationally by National Public Radio and produced from WXPN-FM (88.5 FM).

“Dave’s World,” a sort of personal successor to “World Cafe,” continues there. The famous voice speeds up a bit when talk turns to dance parties.

“I am sort of Mr. Friday Night,” Dye says, thinking back to the WIOQ days. “Friday Flashback,” broadcast live from the Chestnut Cabaret nightclub, “sounded so good on radio that for seven of those years there were lines down the block before the place really opened. … I always say that the show facilitated the dating rituals of Philadelphia 20-year-olds for a decade.”

Then came a whole new type of show. “Commercial radio is not about music discovery,” explains Bruce Warren, co-founder of NPR’s “World Cafe” and now its executive producer.

By contrast, “David drew on his love of freeform radio. He was able to have warm, effective conversations with musicians about their craft, something no one was doing on the radio any longer. It was a great idea.”

The two-hour “World Cafe” started out in 1991 on five stations; by the time Dye left, it was carried on 217. “It’s what we’re known for all around the country and it drives everything we do,” WXPN manager Roger LaMay said at the time, calling it “our marquee show.”

Winding down, “Dave’s World” is a bit of a playground, Dye says, a weekly experiment in which he plays what he enjoys, often African and Caribbean music and new singer-songwriters. Luckily for Philadelphia listeners, he has no plans to sign off.

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