Joseph Tamburro

Italian-American from South Philadelphia. Died 27 July 2012 Butterball was a Philadelphia radio legend on WDAS, becoming a DJ at a black radio station during the turbulent civil rights years. Civil rights author Wynne Alexander, whose grandfather owned the station, remembers Butterball fondly. “In those days, a white guy working at a black station, although it had happened before, it was still rather unusual,” she tells KYW Newsradio. “But Butter had this enormous charm and this enormously good ear, and it paved the way.” Tamburro, a young man from South Philadelphia, got his start at WDAS as a salesman in 1964. He soon became a fulltime DJ, and for the last 25 years was program director.