Disc Jockey

A disc jockey hired to spin records at a party in Sharon Hill in March 1990 was acquitted last week in Delaware County Court of raping one of the party's hosts after she passed out from drinking. After hearing five days of testimony without a jury, Judge Rita E. Prescott Thursday found Nathaniel K. Talbert, 26, of Pemberton, N.J., not guilty of rape and indecent assault. He was accused of raping the 26-year-old woman when he left the turntable and March 10 party in the basement and slipped into her bedroom upstairs.

A Montgomery County jury convicted two cousins of first-degree murder yesterday in the slaying of a popular Puerto Rican disc jockey who was beaten and shot soon after finishing a radio show in September. Miguel A. Alvarez, 45, of Clinton, Mass., and Roberto V. Alvarez, 25, formerly of Philadelphia, also were convicted of criminal conspiracy and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the murder of Alberto Martino Garcia, who had a weekly three-hour salsa show on WIBF-FM, a radio station in Abington.

Gene Asro, 75, known in Bucks County for his photographic efforts and radio programs, died last Tuesday at his Bristol Township home. For more than 40 years, he owned and operated Asro Mobile Photo, providing freelance photographic work for publications in and around the county. He also reported for United Press International from 1965 to 1980. As a disc jockey, he broadcast programs over local stations. He also wrote several songs that were published. Mr. Asro was born Augustine Rossana in Clarksburg, W. Va., where he attended high school.

George W. Benson, 55, a disc jockey and professional entertainer who worked local conventions, boardwalk parades and children's birthday parties during a 30-year career in show business, died of a heart attack June 21 at his Audubon home. In February, hundreds of Mr. Benson's friends and colleagues gathered for a benefit to raise funds for the radio personality and local entertainer. Mr. Benson had suffered a massive heart attack in September and was unable to work. Guests such as comedian Soupy Sales and doo-woppers Bill Deal and the Rondells paid tribute to the announcer, whose deep booming voice had been heard over the years on radio stations WFIL, WIBG, WMID and WPEN.

Lloyd "Fatman" Smith, 67, a joking, jovial disc jockey at radio station WHAT (1340) for more than three decades and a popular Philadelphia entertainer, died Friday at Jefferson Park Hospital. Smith, who was also a comedian, musician and singer, performed with Count Basie, Sammy Davis Jr., Ray Charles, the Louis Jordan Band and other musicians at many Philadelphia nightclubs during a 30-year career as an entertainer. He also was active in community work. "He was always trying to make people feel good," said a daughter, Barbara McPherson.

A popular Puerto Rican disc jockey was beaten and shot to death in an Abington parking lot after finishing his Wednesday night music show, authorities said. Police said they had no motive or suspects in the slaying of Alberto Martino Garcia, 54, of the 3000 block of North Water Street in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, whose body was discovered at 11:26 p.m. outside the studio of WIBF-FM at the Benjamin Fox Pavilion. The victim, known as Alberto Martino, worked from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday.

First he was called the "House Mouse," because he was so small - only 5 feet, 1 inch, and 102 pounds. Then he was "Luis B," just because he was "always changing nicknames," said his father. But it was as "Super B" that Angel L. Beltran, a disc jockey on a popular West Chester Spanish- language radio program, made his name. Mr. Beltran had only been spinning his private blend of Spanish-language music for a year on radio station WCHE-AM (1520) when he was killed by a hit- and-run driver this weekend.

Karin Begin, the WXPN-FM (88.5) afternoon disc jockey who has been on suspension for two weeks, was fired Monday by the alternative-music station. Begin, 24, was taken off the air April 28 after admitting that she falsified her resume. Yesterday, she described her dismissal meeting with station manager Mark Fuerst as "very brief, very impersonal. He talked a lot about the integrity of the station and said it was the only decision he could come to. " Fuerst, citing the privacy of personnel matters, declined to discuss the situation in detail.

Ed Sciaky, 55, the influential Philadelphia disc jockey whose passionate advocacy helped turn artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Yes into stars, died yesterday. Mr. Sciaky, who was on kidney dialysis and whose right foot was amputated last year as a result of complications from diabetes, died suddenly in New York City, according to his part-time employer, local classic-rock station WMGK-FM (102.9). "As long as the music of the bands he played lives, he lives," said Springsteen guitarist Steven Van Zandt, whose own radio show has been following Sciaky's on Sunday nights.

The day before she left for a Labor Day vacation, Lydia Mendez opened her apartment door to find an anonymous message smeared with blood. "This is your final letter your last chance," it threatened in words cut from newspapers and magazines. The note, the last of about a half-dozen, warned her to break off her five- year affair with disc jockey Alberto Martino Garcia "no ifs, ands, or buts. " It said Martino was messing up "your brain, your life, your child growth, your own family, your future with lies.

You could call Serena Sol Brown - singer, musician, and radio personality - a triple threat, as her friends like to say. But that would be leaving out a lot. Let's see. She also writes songs. And produces and promotes artists. And did I mention deejaying and acting? What are we up to now? Octuple threat? Suffice it to say that Serena Sol's artistic journey has taken her in and out of so many facets of the music industry that that she probably could run a label herself.

Phelan E. Smith, 36, of Lumberton, a trainer for the Educational Testing Service and a talented musician and disc jockey who performed as "DJ Phee Funk," died Monday, Dec. 20, of injuries suffered that morning in a highway crash. A graduate of Pemberton Township High School and Chubb Institute in Cherry Hill, Mr. Smith also attended Burlington County College and Mercer County Community College. He played trumpet, drums, saxophone, and keyboards. He was a member of several bands and did studio production for various musical groups.

A part-time bartender at the popular McFadden's Restaurant & Saloon in Northern Liberties has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the restaurant has deliberately discouraged nonwhite customers. Court documents quote a text message by the bar's general manager as telling a shift supervisor to cease a weeknight promotion that brought in African American customers. "We don't want black people we are a white bar!" the manager wrote in October, the lawsuit alleges. McFadden's parent company, East Coast Saloons L.L.C.

BILL WEBBER often said that he didn't look forward to retirement. He said that he wanted to continue working until they put him in the ground - "and maybe longer. " William W. Webber, known as "Wee Willie Webber" to countless TV and radio fans in Philadelphia for more than half a century, longtime officer of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia and a man who never turned down a request to do a fundraiser, telethon or other charitable benefit, died yesterday. He was 80 and lived in Center City.

Tweeting and texting, phoning and yelling in the street, Philadelphia-area residents shared the news last night of the death of Michael Jackson, the oddity and icon who perplexed and entertained America for decades. Not so much a person as a once-in-a-lifetime event, Jackson was part car wreck and part comet, and the 50-year-old's passing on a warm summer night galvanized people in the city and environs. "I was devastated," said Neil Shore, 39, a disc jockey at the Camden Community College radio station, WDBK-FM (91.5)

FOR FLYERS FANS out there, we raise this question: What word comes to mind when considering the play of winger Scott Hartnell? Aggressive? Tough? Scrappy? What about dirty? No? Well, there are some players who disagree with you. According to a poll of 324 NHL players published in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated - which hits newsstands today - 5 percent of players thought Hartnell could use a lesson in sensitivity. Anaheim defenseman Chris Pronger and Dallas forward Steve Ott topped the dirtiest player list, with 13 percent each.

Paul Louis Norton, 79, a venerable WPVI-TV Channel 6 (ABC) broadcaster for nearly 40 years, died Thursday of a stroke at Christiana Hospital. He had retired to Lewes, Del., in 1997. Mr. Norton came to Philadelphia in 1959 as a disc jockey and producer for WFIL-AM radio. The next year he was hired by Channel 6, where he worked in entertainment, news, public affairs and as station announcer. Mr. Norton reported on-the-air news, sports, and weather and hosted the game shows, The Money Movie, The Morning Movie, and Racing Time.

A rowdy fight inside a University City strip club turned fatal early yesterday after a young man shot a disc jockey and was killed by a University of Pennsylvania police officer when he turned his weapon on police. The disc jockey remained in critical condition, the strip club has been shut, and police were deciding whether anyone involved with the fight should face criminal charges. The incident marked the second time in seven months that campus police have fatally shot someone.

To many people, "Little" Timmy Kelly is that scrappy, blind kid who sings at Eagles games. To others, he's an Irish crooner who wows them at the St. Patrick's Day Parade and other Irish get-togethers around the area. For organizations such as the Shriners and the Variety Club, Timmy is the finest of ambassadors: a living success story who epitomizes all that's possible for young people with disabilities. Born premature at just under two pounds and diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 18 months, he has become something of a folk hero, attracting substantial publicity for his singing, his buoyant personality and his plucky charm.

RE YOUR recent article about prosecutor Barry Gross and all his career accomplishments: That should include all the pain he put my grandparents through by putting my uncle, Nick Yarris, away for 22 years for an awful crime he didn't commit. He was released from death row two years ago with the help of his lawyer, Peter Goldberger, Barry Sheck from the Innocence Project and others. Just how many other people are waiting to die for something they didn't do? Jason Whalen, Essington Broad St. snarl Since August 2005, there's been road-narrowing street work on Broad between Glenwood and Cumberland, with no signs of the construction ever going to be done.