Remembering Tony Brown
• iHeartMedia’s 105.3 WDAS-FM/Philadelphia is mourning the passing of Tony Brown, the legendary former longtime host of the station’s Quiet Storm show, who died Wednesday morning, Feb. 24 after a long illness. He was 75.
For more than 45 years, Brown’s silky-smooth voice had been synonymous with the sounds of the night in the Delaware Valley as host of The Quiet Storm, which aired on WDAS-FM weeknights from 7-midnight, and host of The Sunday Brunch, Sunday afternoons from noon-3pm.
Brown began his radio career at Temple University’s WRTI-FM in 1969. He originally joined WDAS-FM in 1972 as host of The Extrasensory Connection, which was renamed The Quiet Storm in 1976. The show later spent eight years on sister WUSL (Power 99) before returning to WDAS-FM in 1997. Brown also co-wrote The Quiet Storm‘s signature theme song with Bert Willis, Rob Arthurs and Rudy Gay.
“We have to speak to the greatness of this radio icon who walked through the doors of WDAS-FM,” said Derrick Corbett, SVP of Programming for iHeartMedia Philadelphia. “Tony Brown was an exceptional talent and an example for us all.” WDAS personality Patty Jackson said, “Tony was such a wonderful man. He was family. He may be gone, but the impact Tony Brown left on Philadelphia radio and the people that he touched will never be forgotten.” Jackson’s on-air colleague Frankie Darcell said, simply, “It was a joy to work with a legend.”
WDAS-FM held a 45th anniversary celebration for Brown in Oct. 2017, and he left the station in 2018 for health-related reasons. At the time, Brown said, “I never imagined my radio career would span 45 years, but then again, I love it so much that I never thought of doing anything else.”
Brown is survived by his devoted wife and producer Sunshine Brown, daughter Kelli, sons Jason and Julian, five granddaughters, a grandson and two great grandsons as well as brother Garland Brown and sister-in-law Amatullah. There will be a memorial service at a time and location TBD that will be restricted to 25 persons due to COVID-19.
