Alan Freed: The Father of Rock & Roll

Alan Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965), also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey (DJ) who became internationally known for promoting African-American Rhythm and Blues (R&B) music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of Rock and Roll. Many of the top African American

performers of the first generation of rock and roll (such as Little Richard and Chuck Berry) salute Alan Freed for his pioneering attitude in breaking down racial barriers among the youth of 1950s America. His career was destroyed by the payola scandal

that hit the broadcasting industry in the early 1960s.

"Father of Rock and Roll"

While Alan Freed called himself the "father of rock and roll", he was not the first to

play it on the airwaves, but is credited for coining and popularizing the term "Rock

and Roll" to describe a style of music, while working for WAKR in Akron. He was a

promoter and he was very successful at what he did, until his own personal failings

became exploited by others. They built their own careers upon the legacy created by

Freed, while Freed's personal career was obliterated.

Pioneer of racial harmony

Many of the top African American performers of the 1950s have given public credit

to Alan Freed for pioneering racial integration among the youth of America at a time

when the adults were still promoting racial strife. Little Richard has appeared in

several programs about that era, to give the credit to Alan Freed that others have

denied him. An example of Freed's non-racist attitude is preserved in motion pictures

in which he personally played a part as himself with many of the leading African-

American acts of that day. His influence and the music that he promoted crossed

artificial racial barriers that were in place during the 1950s.

"The Moondog"

While working as a disc jockey at radio station WJW in Cleveland, Ohio, he

organized the first rock and roll concert at Cleveland Arena called "The Moondog

Coronation Ball" on March 21, 1952. The event, attended mainly by African

Americans, proved a huge drawing card — the first event had to be ended early due to

overcrowding. The Cleveland Cavaliers' mascot Moondog (mascot) is named in honor

of Freed.

1010 WINS New York

Following his success on the air in Cleveland, Alan Freed moved to New York City

where he turned WINS into a rock and roll radio station.

Radio Luxembourg

Building upon his successful introduction in Europe by film, Alan Freed was then

booked onto Radio Luxembourg where his prerecorded shows enhanced his

reputation as the "father of rock and roll" music. Due to the tremendous power that

the signal of Radio Luxembourg enjoyed throughout much of Western Europe, his

choice of music encouraged imitation by many domestic groups. The record

companies also bought time on Luxembourg to further promote the music of Little

Richard, Chuck Berry and other African American artists. These sounds were heard in

places such as Liverpool, England where the individuals who later became famous as

The Beatles were also listening and attempting to copy the music they heard.

Movies

Alan Freed also appeared in a number of major and historical rock and roll motion

pictures during this period. These films were often welcomed with tremendous

enthusiasm by teenagers because they brought visual depictions of their favorite

American acts to the big screen, years before music videos would present the same

sort of image on the small television screen. One side effect of these movies shown

before mass audiences was that they sometimes presented an excuse for thugs to turn

a fun event into a riot, in which cinemas in both West Germany and the United

Kingdom were trashed.

Alan Freed appeared in several motion pictures that presented many of the big

musical acts of his day:

1956 - Rock Around the Clock featuring Alan Freed, Bill Haley and His Comets, The

Platters, Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys.

Rock, Rock, Rock featuring Alan Freed, Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon and the

Teenagers, Johnny Burnette, La Vern Baker, The Flamingos, The Moonglows.

1957 - Mr. Rock and Roll featuring Alan Freed, Lionel Hampton, Ferlin Husky,

Frankie Lymon, Little Richard, Brook Benton, Chuck Berry, Clyde McPhatter, La

Vern Baker, Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

Don't Knock the Rock featuring Alan Freed, Alan Dale, Little Richard and the

Upsetters, Bill Haley and His Comets, The Treniers, Dave Appell and His Applejacks.

1959 - Go, Johnny Go! featuring Alan Freed, Jimmy Clanton, Chuck Berry.

Television

It was at the height of Freed's career at the beginning of his new television series that

various individuals decided to use Alan Freed as a scapegoat for all that was wrong

with the recorded music industry and his show called The Big Beat (which predated

American Bandstand) on ABC was suddenly cancelled after an episode in which

Frankie Lymon of Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers was seen dancing with a white

girl offended the management of ABC's local affiliates in the Southern states. Into the

void that had been created by the absence of Freed on TV, the career of Dick Clark

began to take off. [citation needed]

Payola

In 1958, Freed faced controversy in Boston, when he told the audience, "The police

don't want you to have fun", as a result, Freed was arrested and charged for inciting to

riot. The career of Alan Freed ended when accusations were made that he had

accepted payola – that is, taken bribes to play specific records. He had also taken

songwriting co-credits (most notably on Chuck Berry's Maybellene). This entitled him

to receive part of a song's royalties, which he could help increase by heavily

promoting the record on his own popular radio show.

Although these practices were not unique to him, he was singled out for attention.

Freed lost his own show on radio station WINS, then he was fired from the station

altogether. In 1960 payola was made illegal, although this by no means stopped the

practice which continues in various forms to this day. In 1962 Alan Freed pled guilty

to two charges of commercial bribery for which he received a fine and a suspended

sentence.

Destruction and death

Although the punishment handed down to Alan Freed was not severe, the side effects

of negative publicity were such that no prestigious station would employ him, and he

moved to the West Coast in 1960, where he worked at KDAY-AM in Santa Monica,

California. In 1962, after KDAY refused to allow him to promote rock 'n roll stage

shows, Freed moved to WQAM in Miami, Florida, but that association lasted only

two months. He died in a Palm Springs, California hospital in 1965 at the age of 43

suffering from uraemia and liver cirrhosis, which was brought on by alcoholism.

Shortly before this he had begun working at a radio station in Palm Springs,

California. He was initially interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New

York, and his ashes were later moved to their present location in the Rock and Roll

Hall of Fame on March 21, 2002.

Legacy

In 1978 a motion picture entitled American Hot Wax was released, inspired by Freed's

contribution to the rock and roll scene, leading up to a concert that was held in New

York City in 1959. Although director Floyd Mutrux created a fictionalised account of

Freed's last days in New York radio by utilising real-life elements outside of their

actual chronology, the film does accurately convey the fond relationship between

Freed, the musicians he played and the audiences who listened to them. Several

notable personalities starred in the movie, who would later become well-known

celebrities, including Jay Leno and Fran Drescher, and there were even cameo

appearances by Chuck Berry, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Frankie Ford and Jerry Lee

Lewis, performing in the recording studio and concert sequences.

In 1986, he was part of the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,

which was built in Cleveland in recognition of Freed's involvement in the promotion

of the genre. In 1988, he was also posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame

and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly

Hall of Fame.

Freed appeared in Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes as a nightmarish

version of himself, who enthusiastically announces the names of deceased rock n roll

legends in You Know They Got a Hell of a Band as part of an upcoming concert to

perform. He was portrayed by Mitchell Butel in the television adaptation on the

Nightmares & Dreamscapes mini-series.