Diamond Jim Nettleton dead at 69

New York and Philadelphia radio legend “Diamond” Jim Nettleton has died at age 69 after a brief battle with lung cancer.

Nettleton was a DJ in the heyday of WABC-AM New York and is profiled on the MusicRadio77 website, but he is best known for his long run in the Philadelphia market. His long career included WFIL-AM, WPEN-AM and WOGL-FM in the City of Brotherly Love, plus WDRC-AM Hatford, CT and WDAE-AM Tampa, FL.

Nettleton’s death a few weeks ago was reported by blogger Al Alvin on his Wildwoood 365 website. The obituary says Nettleton most recently had hosted a morning show on an FM station in Cape May, NJ that now carries the call letters of one of Philly’s most famous top 40 stations, WIBG, known to fans as “wibbage.” Ironically, Nettleton had never worked at the original WIBG-AM Philadelphia, but rather at its main top 40 competitor, WFIL.