(Left to right) Broadcast Pioneers members Joe Earley and Ed Sciaky
in Joe Earley's home
December 27, 2000
Broadcast Pioneers member Joe Earley was in broadcasting for over a half century. For Philadelphians, Joe was probably best known for his portrayal of Mr. Rivets on "Let Scott Do It," which aired from 9 am to 10 am, Monday through Friday on WPTZ (now KYW-TV), Channel 3 in Philadelphia in the 1950's.
However, Earley did many other things including working with Ernie Kovacs here in Philadelphia (at WPTZ) and Broadcast Pioneers member, the legendary Gene London (at WCAU-TV).
On Wednesday, December 27, 2000, we recorded two programs in our webcast series, Pioneers in Broadcasting, the first with Shelly Gross and later that same day, the second with Joe Earley. While the webcast was planned to be 15 to 30 minutes long, Joe was so interesting that we kept the camera rolling and it ran just over 41 minutes in length.
This webcast was originally recorded and uploaded as video. However, because of bandwidth limitations, we were forced for several years to offer this interview, only as audio only.
However, we did save the video files and in 2004, we again offered this "Pioneers in Broadcasting" webcast as video because of our increased Internet bandwidth service. One problem. It was the same file that we were using in 2000 when webcasting with only 4 frames per second. Well, in 2010, we re-encoded the interview using 30 frames per second which is also what television uses. This new encoding is available in Windows Media Format only!
Watch Joe Earley on December 27, 2000 in the Windows Media Format!
We still have the audio version in the Real Audio format!
After we finished taping the show, host Ed Sciaky and producer Gerry Wilkinson sat in Joe's den and informally continued the conversation. With Joe's kind permission, we have elected to use part of that conversation here. Be advised that the top three clips have not been upgraded. These are the original encoded from 2000. They are only 4 frames per second. Some day in the future, we hope to also upgrade these video clips, but until that time, you can still watch the original version. They are available only as Real Video.
Ernie Kovacs & cooking
WPTZ Announcer Earle Gill. He did booth announcing and the sign off news.
Joe discusses The Playhouse in the Park
The following clips have been upgraded and are playable on the Windows Media Player!
Joe talks about Bob Bradley & Bucksin Billy
Rex Trailer
Gary Geers
Harold Pannepacker
Florence Hanford
The Flying Sorcerer
Stan Lee Broza
Joe's Wife, Kathy had her own TV show on Channel 3
Ernie Kovacs and Three to Get Ready
Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams
Andy McKay, Kovacs' assistant!
Lee Dexter, Pete Boyle & Ernie Kovacs
Joe Earley talks about quality in the industry
Newsman Roy Neal
From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
2010 Video encoding courtesy of MetraMedia Studios and Broadcast Pioneers member Brad Seecof
© 2000, 2010, Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
All Rights Reserved
The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com