* The radio station
WMMR was way out front on Springsteen. DJs Michael Tearson and yours truly first aired his debut album, "Greetings From Asbury Park," on the Saturday before it was officially released (on Jan. 5, 1973), and the artist made his local club debut as an opening act at the Main Point.
Also quick to hear and share his talent were WMMR's David Dye, now predicting the next big things on the WXPN-syndicated "World Cafe," and Bruce's most devoted of fans-cum-friends, the late Ed Sciaky, a man worthy of an exhibit area unto himself.
* The Philly folk connection
Much more than most, Philadelphia was a folk town due to clubs like the Second Fret and Main Point and the shows/festivals mounted by the Philadelphia Folksong Society. And just like John Hammond, who auditioned and signed him to Columbia (check out that amazing audio tape at the exhibit), Philadelphians embraced Springsteen first as a surreal, neo-Dylanesque folk-rocker - Bob Dylan being another talent who loomed much larger here than elsewhere.
* Keeping him alive
The Springsteen band barely scraped by in its early years, relying on steadfast touring and the kindness of friends. (Bruce slept a few nights on Ed and Judy Sciaky's green velvet couch.) Philadelphia was far and away the band's most reliable meal ticket, and they regularly returned for multiple-night engagements at the 270-seat Main Point. "Though they never got rich here," mused longtime Main Point employee Larry Ahearn. "As an opener, they earned $75. As a headliner, not much more."
The band also picked up gigs at Villanova University and Glassboro State College, Uncle Al's Earlton Lounge and the Trenton War Memorial. And in September '74, they'd risen to Tower Theater headliners, with Bruce declaring he never play "anywhere bigger."
Yet in October 1976 the Springsteen crew returned to the Spectrum in its first ever headliner arena gig! Springsteen wouldn't achieve arena headliner status in New York (at Nassau Coliseum and Madison Square Garden)until the 1978 "Darkness on the Edge of Town" tour.
* His first radio concerts
You can listen at the exhibit to a "Breakthrough" 1978 concert broadcast by WMMS in Cleveland. Yet here, too, Philly and WMMR were way out in front, first telegraphing the powerful sound of Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert with an April 24, 1973, feed from the Main Point, then doing it again on Feb. 5, 1975.
The latter broadcast was "when I first heard him," shared exhibit contributor and South Jersey friend Frank Stefanko, who shot the cover photos for Springsteen's "Darkness . . . " and "The River" albums. "That's when I got it."
