February 19, 1968
April 22, 1968O'Brien's broadcasting career began in college at Baylor University (the largest Baptist university anywhere in the world) and it took him from coast to coast as a rock jock and program director before coming to the Delaware Valley. In 1966, he was doing morning drive at WSAI in Cincinnati.
Jim was working at WOR-FM in 1968. [ LISTEN ] (10:51)
Previously, he was in Denver. Then he went to several other stations and finally to KHJ in Los Angeles as Program Director but didn't like management as much as being on the air. However, O'Brien found it tough to get an air job because all the PD's thought that Jim might be after their jobs. All except WFIL Radio's Jay Cook who hired him.
Jim arrived in Philly as one of the WFIL Boss Jocks on August 17, 1970, the same day as Steve Levy, who would become one of his closest friends.
WFIL Philadelphia PA - Jim O’Brien & Tom Dooley - 1971/1972.
When Dr. Don Rose left WFIL Radio in 1973, Jim got the coveted morning drive slot. His WFIL newscaster was Allen Stone, and his engineer was Howard Eskin. It was O’Brien who encouraged Howard to pursue a career on air.
In 1972, WFIL Radio, WFIL-FM and WFIL-TV were sold to separate owners but remained in the same building. WFIL-TV became WPVI-TV and in 1973 (possibly 1972), Jim O'Brien started as their main weathercaster on the 6 pm and 11 pm newscasts. This is where the confusion comes in.
However, Jim O'Brien left the TV airwaves shortly after taking over morning drive on WFIL Radio. Jim was gone from weather and replaced by Bob Gale (who later wrote the motion picture, "The Buddy Holly Story.") and later WFIL Boss Jock Dave Parks. Late in 1974, Jim O'Brien decided to return to weather on "Action News." This was verified by Broadcast Pioneers member Larry Kane, the anchor of "Action News" at that time. A little while later, O'Brien anchored the 5:30 pm newscast (before they began a 5 o'clock newscast)
Around 1971, he joined the WPVI-TV Channel 6 Action News team as a sports anchor. He soon became the weatherman, and eventually co-anchored the 12:00PM and 5:00PM newscasts, the local edition of Dialing for Dollars, and the weekend magazine show Primetime.
O'Brien had two favorite hobbies: motorcycle riding and skydiving. The latter hobby led to his death in a skydiving accident on September 25, 1983 at the United Parachute Club near Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania. After he and another skydiver deployed their parachutes, they collided with each other, and their parachutes became entangled. O'Brien attempted to use his reserve shoot, but he was already too low, the canopy failed to inflate, and he struck the ground. O’Brien was buried in his home state of Texas on Thursday, September 29, 1983. Jim O’Brien was 43 years old.
O'Brien was posthumously inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame in 1997.
