Mike Bowe

Michael Joseph Bowe was born on November 4, 1949, in Gloucester City, New Jersey, and was raised there. He attended St. Mary's school and graduated from Gloucester Catholic High School in 1967. As a teenager he enjoyed music and socializing and was good at talking with people about their favorite songs and other interests, a skill that later shaped his radio career.

He served three years in the U.S. Army, including 11 months and 11 days in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, and earned several medals and service stars and an achievement badge. He then studied broadcasting in Minnesota.

Bowe worked his way through the radio ranks in South Jersey and Philadelphia. He hosted music shows at WMGK from 1977 through the early 2000s, worked at KISS 100 in the 1990s, and was on WPEN and WHAT, including Martini Radio, between 2000 and 2011. After 2011 he worked at other local stations, including KOOL 98.3, and on iRadioPhilly.

At WMGK he became especially associated with the Saturday Night '70s show, which colleagues said he turned into a hit in the mid 1990s. "He was the very foundation of that success," fellow DJ Chris McCoy told The Philadelphia Inquirer. Fans and colleagues described his calming, smooth voice and velvet intonations and his down to earth, friendly style.

He teamed with other DJs on morning, afternoon and evening shifts, interviewed performers, took calls from listeners and broadcast from Phillies games and charity benefits. He liked to air from his favorite clubs and pubs and ride shuttle buses with listeners to concerts, and in 1989 he dressed as George Washington to cross the Delaware River when the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge reopened after repairs. Away from the studio he worked as a DJ at nightclubs, holiday parades and private events. "I think I can relate the same way to somebody whether he's on Ninth Street in South Philly or at a bank in Center City," he told the Courier-Post in 1987.

Bowe married Debbie Durso in 1985 and they made their home in Audubon, New Jersey. Family and friends said that where one went, the other followed. Debbie died in June 2026.

He played softball, enjoyed trips to Atlantic City and Brigantine, was a Sunday morning usher at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Gloucester City and belonged to the Townsend C. Young VFW post. He was a devoted Phillies fan, and his favorite song was "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" by his favorite group, the Four Tops. His family remembered him as funny, quick-witted, sentimental, outspoken and unforgettable.

Mike Bowe died at his home in Audubon, New Jersey, on Monday, September 14, 2026, aged 76, of complications from cancer. The Philadelphia Inquirer published his obituary on September 18. He was survived by a sister, a brother, a niece and other relatives; two brothers died before him. After a visitation at the McCann-Healey Funeral Home in Gloucester City on September 22, he received U.S. Army military honors at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, New Jersey. The family suggested donations to the Wounded Warrior Project and St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church.

For listeners across the Delaware Valley, Bowe was a familiar voice for more than four decades, and tributes called him one of the best ever and a memorable radio legend. "He had something intangible," Chris McCoy said. "He made you feel like he knew you, and you knew him." Longtime friend Patrick Healey said he was "a gift to Gloucester City and to the Delaware Valley professionally and as a man."