Jerry Blavat Death Hoax, Jerry Blavat Not Dead, Hospice, Illness Update – Jerry Blavat aka geator with the heater, Philadelphia DJ and icon debunks death rumor as an official statement was released on his Facebook page. “We are aware of the rumors surrounding Jerry’s death. They are UNTRUE. As you know, Jerry has been struggling with health issues over the past several months. He is currently surrounded by his family and closest friends and loved ones. We ask that you continue to keep Jerry and his family in your prayers rather than spread rumors, and respect the privacy that he deserves.” the statement reads.
Jerry Blavat began his career in radio in 1960. His show had been syndicated in Camden, Atlantic City, Trenton, Pottstown, Wilmington, and Allentown by 1963. He refused to listen to a playlist, instead “playing music from the heart, not a research chart.” Blavat co-founded the Lost Nite and Crimson record labels with Jared Weinstein and Collectables Records founder Jerry Greene in the 1960s. The three also co-owned Record Museum, a now-defunct record store company centered in Philadelphia.
Blavat continues to broadcast on local radio seven days a week and performs at multiple record hops and events in the Philadelphia area each week.
Since January 2002, he has been staging oldies events at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. For almost 20 years, he was a regular contributor for the Atlantic City Weekly, and he now writes his column, “Geator Gab,” exclusively for the New Jersey Free Press.
Since 2011, he has been the emcee of Time Life’s annual Malt Shop Memories Cruise and a member of the New York Friars’ Club. His Margate, New Jersey, nightclub, Memories, where he continues to DJ during the summer, has been open since 1972. Blavat is a DJ for the South Jersey-based oldies radio station WVLT (FM) 92.1, the University of Pennsylvania’s public radio station WXPN in Philadelphia, the radio stations WTKU-FM and WOND in Atlantic City, WBCB (AM) in Bucks County and Trenton, and WISL (AM) in Shamokin, Pennsylvania as of 2020.
Jerry expanded his radio network in 2020 to include the internet station Tyme 102.9 WTYM-DB in Zephyrhills, Florida.
Running Press published Blavat’s autobiography, You Only Rock Once: My Life in Music, in July 2011. After its third printing, it was released in paperback two years later and as an audiobook in 2014.
Blavat was named “Best Philly Icon” by Philadelphia magazine readers in 2018.
From 1965 to 1967, Blavat created and presented The Discophonic Scene, a dance show for “all my yon adolescents” similar to American Bandstand (which debuted in Philadelphia a decade earlier), referring to himself as “the Geator with the Heater” and “the big boss with the hot sauce.” He appeared on shows such as The Mod Squad, The Monkees, The Tonight Show, and The Joey Bishop Show. He starred in Desperately Seeking Susan, Baby It’s You, and Cookie. Blavat bought “Memories,” a nightclub in Margate, New Jersey, in 1972.