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The End of the Spectrum: An Audio Story
February 17, 2011
Not every event we produce is about amazing lighting. Often Eventions is tasked to provide interesting and challenging audio visual services that no other company can provide.
This past November, we were asked to provide audio support for the demolition ceremony of one of Philadelphia’s most beloved landmarks, the Spectrum. “America’s Showplace,” as it’s affectionately called, will be demolished make way for Philly Live! an entertainment area with restaurants, bars, and retail shops. Built in 1967, the stadium was home to most of Philadelphia’s professional sports teams including the 76’ers (basketball), the Flyers (hockey), the Kixx (soccer), the Wings (lacrosse), the Phantoms (hockey), the Bulldogs (roller hockey) and the Freedom (tennis). Additionally, over the course of 40 years the Spectrum hosted well over 1,000 concerts including Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Presley, to name a few. Unbeknownst to many, the letters in the name Spectrum originally stood for the following: The ‘SP’ for “sports” and “South Philadelphia,” the ‘E’ for ‘‘entertainment,” a ‘C’ for “circuses,” a ‘T’ for “theatricals,” an ‘R’ for “recreation” and ‘UM’ as in “um, what a nice building!”
Knowing Eventions was experienced in producing challenging “out of the box” audio services, the building’s owners contacted us to assist them with this high profile event. But it was clear they were unsure how many people would be attending the demolition ceremony with estimates running between 50 to 10,000. That’s quite a difference! How on earth were we going to determine the audio range with no idea who would actually be attending? In the end, the client asked us to provide audio coverage for the entire parking lot to cover all live attendee areas as well as audio feeds to 30 local and national news crews including ”>Comcast Sports Net who carried it live.
During the planning stages of this event (which took place just days before the actual ceremony happened) we had a walkthrough with officials from the City of Philadelphia, SEPTA, the demolition team as well as the client’s operations and public relations departments. Needless-to say, there was a tremendous amount of tension in the air about the demolition ceremony. In fact, the demolition team was worried about “the demo show” and what it would actually take to bring the Spectrum down. The old building was well built and solid as a rock but a few swings of the wrecking balls finally managed to crack the facade. Interestingly enough, we did learn that the reason the demolition team could not use explosives to implode the building was due to the close proximity of the SEPTA subway lines. Smart decision.
As it turns out, there was no reason to worry. As the crowd quickly grew to over 3,000 people, there was a real sense of community and respect flowing around The Spectrum. In true Philadelphia fan tradition, many people arrived early to tailgate and reminisce about the great times they experienced in the building over the years. Many dwelled on the major sports championships won on property. Specifically, the Flyer’s recent two Stanley Cups and the Sixer’s NBA Championship in 1983. We’re certainly happy to have shared in the historic journey of an amazing Philadelphia institution.
And yes, if you visit our office, you can see a section of the actual basketball floor and a piece of hockey glass. You too can own a piece of history, bricks from The Spectrum are still for sale online.
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