Ben J. D'Avella

Italian American radio show host and director (born January 22, 1909 in Boston, Massachusetts – died May 22, 1994 in Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey, USA) Born in Boston, D'Avella grew up in Newark, New Jersey. He studied pharmacy at Columbia University and ran his own pharmacy on 206 Bloomfield Ave. in Newark, NJ, between 1934 and 1974. In 1929, while still in pharmacy school, D'Avella began hosting an Italian-language music program, "Una Serata a Napoli" (An Evening in Naples) on radio WNJ in Newark. In 1932, he moved his show to WBNX and later to WNEW in New York. Apart from Italian music, the show also featured D'Avella's sister Ida R. D'Avella (1911-2000) reading Italian poetry and performing in Italian plays. From 1939 to 1942, he published a weekly Italian-American newspaper, "Il Corriere della Domenica" (Sunday Courier), in West New York, N.J.