Ed Sciaky and his wife, Judy
St. Mark's Square, Venice, Italy
June 29, 2000
The above picture shows Judy and Ed Sciaky in the center of Sr, Mark's Square in Venice. Two famous buildings are in the photo. St. Mark's Basilica from the 17th century is in the background (slightly to the right of center). The 14the century Doge's Palace is on the extreme right.
26 Years before, on Tuesday, December 3, 1974, Broadcast Pioneers members Ed Sciaky and T. Morgan interviewed by telephone, Elton John on WMMR Radio. Elton was in Philly for a two show performance; one was the night before and the other that evening. During this interview, he talks about his song, "Philadelphia Freedom," and how it was sort of a tribute to his friend, Billie Jean King, who was part of the Philadelphia Freedoms tennis team. The tune had not yet been released.
And now a little about this recording.... Our audio was mastered direct from the reel-to-reel tape which was recorded at the WMMR studios off the main studio's console. The audio we have in our archive is 16 minutes and 41 seconds long. It begins in the middle of the interview and the tape ends while the interview was still going on. Does anyone have more of this interview? If so, please e-mail us.
What we are presenting is basically the audio from this tape. We have removed the song played during the middle because of music licensing restrictions. Other than that, everything is intact. There were some clicks and pops that were from the phone setup at the station. These have been removed. Also, the audio level has been adjusted. When talking on this type of phone setup, the audio of the person on the other end (Elton John) is lower for a second or so and then rises. We have adjusted these levels raising Elton's level as much as 16 dbs in places. This now gives you a much smoother sound. Remember, that the station's audio chain would have corrected the levels to an extent but our master was recorded before entering the audio chain. The tape was found in Judy Sciaky's basement, where it has lived for most of the third of a century since this recording was made.
From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
Photo & Audio originally donated by Judy Sciaky, Ed's widow
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The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com