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Surfing by Laura Nachman Bucks County Courier Times February 3, 2004 All weekend WMGK 102.9-FM paid tribute to disc jockey Ed Sciaky who died of a heart attack Thursday at the age of 55. The outpouring of emotion began shortly after DJ Andre Gardner announced Sciaky's death on the air Thursday at 5:05 p.m. The station set up a link on the web site www.wmgk.com for listeners to write about Sciaky, who had been on radio here since the 1960's. Emails and calls poured into the station for the remainder of Gardner's shift, then from Ray Coob's 7 p.m. - midnight shift. Gardner wrote in an email, "The response has been nothing short of astounding. This man was LOVED, truly loved, by Philadelphia's rock & roll fans. The emails have brought us, and I'm sure Ed's family, some comfort." The station played many songs of Sciaky's favorite artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Yes, Jackson Browne and David Bowie. Billy Joel called into Coob's show and Bruce Springsteen expressed condolences on his web site. On Friday, the tribute to Sciaky continued on John DeBella's morning drive show and Debbie Calton's mid-day show. Calton's "Noontime Nuggets" was dedicated to Sciaky. "American Pie," which has the famous line "The Day the Music Died," kicked off the show, and other appropriate songs played were "The Last DJ" by Tom Petty, "Thunder Road," You're Missing," and "My Hometown," by Springsteen, and "Captain Jack" by Joel. Annie Haslam of another of Sciaky's favorite groups, Renaissance also called into Calton's show. The radio tribute ended Sunday evening, as the station played an encore presentation of "Sunday with Springsteen." Sciaky's funeral was Sunday morning. He is survived by his wife Judy and college-age daughter Monica. Former WTXF news anchor Rich Noonan will be back on the news for the first in two years, as he'll co-anchor the 10 p.m. news for WHNS-TV in Greenville, SC. Noonan, who worked at WTXF for 11 years filed a racial discrimination suit against the station after his contract wasn't renewed in February of 2002 and he was replaced by David Huddleston, who is African-American. That lawsuit is still pending. Since he left Fox, Noonan ran a production company and appeared in infomercials for his clients. Noonan and his family, wife Jennifer, a former photographer at Fox, and their two daughters, Kylie, 5, and Lauren 18 months will move to the Greenville area, which is in the western part of the state. Greenville is the 35th largest television market. Noonan signed a five-year deal with the station, which is a Fox affiliate. |