'Mugs' moves on

By Laurie Gordon

SPARTA — For years, Jerry “Mugs” Morelli, of Sparta, was the voice and image of Channel 10's Sports Beat and Skylands Weekly. He was famous for his line, “Let's take a commercial tttt-ime out” as he put his hands into the shape of a T (for timeout), and he has been a beloved staple on the television sports scene in Sussex County for many years. Mugs Media, the business he built from the ground up, is still on the air, but as of May 11, there was no more Mugs. Morelli has shifted gears and is now revving it up as a car salesman at Nielsen Chevrolet in Dover.
“The decision to leave was excruciating,” Morelli said, “And I plan to keep my hand in media in some way.” Though Morelli had sold Mugs Media to one of his employees five years prior, he had stayed on as host and sales manager. Now, he's parlaying his experience in sales to work for his friend and one of the program's biggest supporters, Bill Snoufer, the general manger of Nielsen Auto Group and Franklin Sussex Automall.
Morelli liked sports at a young age and tested the waters as a broadcaster early on, serving as sports announcer during neighborhood wiffle ball games. He grew up in Garwood, and after graduating from David Brearly High School in Kenilworth, he went on to major in broadcasting at Jones College in Jacksonville, Fla. He then completed his studies at the New York School of Broadcasting.
Morelli was drawn to radio, and his dream to broadcast came true at WVRM in Hazlet, where a volunteer job as a disc jockey evolved into becoming the station's sports director and eventually station manager.
He was on WERA, in Plainsfield and WJDM in Elizabeth and then migrated north to Sussex County and WSUS, based in Franklin. There, he was the station's sports director from 1985 until 1992. Morelli taught at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting while he simultaneously started up his own production business, Mugs Media, in 1993.
Under the umbrella Mugs Media, LLC, were shows including Sports Beat and Skylands Weekly. They had a regular spot on Service Electric Cable TV of NJ’s Channel 10 until the end of February 2012 when, Morellis said, “everything changed.” He explained, “After giving me just two weeks notice, they changed their policies and required me to lease my time on the air directly from them.”
Skylands Weekly fell off of the air, but Morelli retained Sports Beat. In need of advertisers to help Mugs Media stay afloat, Morelli approached Snouffer who decided to sponsor Sports Beat to keep it on the air. In addition to Snoufer, sponsors included DeBoer's Auto, Thorlabs, Dr. John Vitolo, Weis Markets and Selective Insurance.
Snoufer and Morelli have coordinated a bi-annual banquet to recognize county athletes, and Morelli has covered philanthropic events such as The St. Clare's Foundation Golf Outing and the Johnny Rizzo Golf Outing. Above all, Morelli is known for knowing his local sports and presenting them as only he could on Sports Beat.
“The media world has changed with social media, so it was more difficult to get people to advertise on our programming,” Morelli said. “With the advent of social media, there are now so many avenues through which people can advertise. It kind of made people unsure of where to spend their advertising dollars.”
This being the case, Morelli knew it was time for him to use his talents in a way other than the media, and Snoufer gladly hired him. “It's a new challenge, and I am using all that I learned working in the world of media to serve my customers,” he said. “Now I'm building my customer base, and it's so great to see my long-time viewers coming down to see me here at the dealership.” Morelli chose Nielson Chevy in Dover because, “I know the sales manager, and I admire him and wanted to learn from a great teacher.”
For many years, Jerry Morelli was the driving force in television coverage for our local athletes. Now, he's using that drive to help his customers find the perfect automobile.