The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

(Left to right) Tom Rush, Joni Mitchell, Gene Shay, Ed Sciaky and unidentified male
(seated) Michael Tearson
Backstage at the Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA
after the "Benefit for the Main Point Concert"
Thursday, November 11, 1976

On Friday evening, March 17, 1967, Broadcast Pioneers member Ed Sciaky went to the 2nd Fret (operated by Manny "Money" Rubin) in downtown Philadelphia (on Sansom Street) and recorded a 15 minute with singer Joni Mitchell.

Recorded between sets, this recording was mastered at 7 and a half ips on Shamrock recording tape, a cheap brand of audio tape but all that college student Ed Sciaky could afford. It was recorded on an Ampex 354 mono tape recorder with an RCA 44 microphone. Ed Sciaky spoke into one side of the mike and Joni into the other. Since Joni spoke softly, her level with lower than Ed. The interview was engineered by Mike Biel, a student executive at the station at that time. Dr. Michael Biel, now retired, taught "Electronic Media" for decades at Morehead University, Morehead, Kentucky.

We have mastered our audio off the that original tape recording. We have adjusted the levels, equalized the recording and ran it through noise reduction technology. What we have here is the best possible quality from this 42 year old recording.

Ed Sciaky

The interview was aired the next evening, Saturday, March 18th on Ed's folk music show called "Broadside," which was broadcast Saturday evenings from 8 pm and 12 midnight over WRTI-FM, the campus radio station of Temple University in Philadelphia.

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