Ed Harvey, a Broadcast Pioneer

Ed Harvey & His Band in 1955
(Click on the picture for a larger version)
(Left to right; Tommy Ferguson, Walt Eismann, Joe Perry, Frank Lewis at top, Ginny Stephens in center and
Dave Stephens at bottom, Joe Sgro, Lennie DeFranco, George White and Ed Harvey)

In 1955, Ed Harvey was doing the morning show on WCAU Radio. He actually had a band that performed live on the program led by Dave Stephens, who was married to Ginny, the female vocalist.

On the extreme left is Tommy Ferguson who performed on the CBS-TV live western "Action in the Afternoon. See a closeup of Tommy.

Next on the accordion is Walt Eismann followed by bassist Joe Perry. Then comes Frank Lewis on clarinet with Ginny and Dave at the piano. Next is guitarist Joe Sgro, who went on to teach his instrument to many up and coming jazz artists. Joe was also a studio musician on many of the Philadelphia TV shows like "Action in the Afternoon," "Candy Carnival" and "Atom Squad." He was the studio guitarist for most of the Cameo-Parkway rock hits of the late 50's and early 60's including all the Bobby Rydell recordings, The Twist and all the Freddie Cannon songs.

Now we come to Lennie DeFranco, brother of Buddy. Lennie in 1949 had formed a trio with himself, Jimmy Lyon and Tal Farlow. The next year, the group went to New York City. However, because of strict union rules, they could not find much work and the trio broke up with Lennie returning to Philadelphia and getting married.

Finally we come to the drummer George White, and of course, our own, Broadcast Pioneers' Vice-President, Ed Harvey. See a close-up of Ed

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com