Background
He was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the son of Charles Freed, a clothing store clerk, and of Maude Freed. He grew up in Salem, Ohio.
He was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the son of Charles Freed, a clothing store clerk, and of Maude Freed. He grew up in Salem, Ohio.
While he was studying mechanical engineering at Ohio State University, from which he received the B. S. in 1943, he played trombone and led his own band, The Sultans of Swing, named after a famous Harlem band.
Following graduation and two years in the U. S. Army, he began his radio career in 1945 on WKST in New Castle, Pennsylvania, playing classical music.
In 1947, Freed moved to WAKR in Akron, Ohio, where he hosted a radio program "Request Review. " For about six months in 1950, he hosted a television dance show on the Cleveland station WXEL.
He then returned to radio and took a job at WJW in Cleveland, playing classical music. Through his association with a local record store owner, Leo Mintz, Freed launched a new show, "The Moon Dog Rock 'n' Roll Party, " in June 1951. It would change the course of American popular music.
He added to his fame when, beginning in 1952, he staged his "Big Beat" all-black-talent rock 'n' roll shows at the Cleveland Arena and at movie theaters in other cities during school holidays.
In 1954, Freed moved to WINS in New York, where "Alan Freed's Rock 'n' Roll Party" occupied the key 6:30-11 P. M. spot Monday through Saturday. His fame exploded. He had roles in four movies: Rock Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Rock (1956), Rock, Rock, Rock (1957), and Go Johnny Go (1959). He also shared writers' credits on a number of records, including the hits "Sincerely" and "Maybelline, " although these credits were probably gifts to insure their being played on the air.
Freed defended rock music and its fans against charges of immorality and juvenile delinquency, and answered criticisms of rock music with charges of racial bias. He favored playing black artists because of their basic contribution to rock, and refused to play white artists who made "cover" records of black originals, regardless of the cover record's sales and popularity. In 1957, Freed hosted a "Rock 'n' Roll Party" on CBS-TV that became controversial because it was sponsored by Camel cigarettes, which was trying to capture the teen-age market, and because the camera caught a black singer dancing with a white girl.
Freed's "Big Beat" stage shows were banned in many cities because of a riot following a show at Boston in 1958. Freed was charged with inciting to riot and anarchy. He fought the charges for two years, at an estimated cost of $30, 000, before they were dropped.
In July 1958, Freed filed for bankruptcy, claiming his liabilities exceeded his assets by $50, 000. Feeling that WINS had failed to support him against the Boston charges, he quit the station and moved to WABC in New York. He also hosted a dance party on New York's WNEW-TV.
In the fall of 1959, rumors about a "payola" scandal surfaced. ("Payola" meant accepting money or favors in return for playing a particular record on the air. ) WABC asked Freed to sign a statement denying he had ever taken payola.
He refused, and was fired. He later signed a similar statement for WNEW-TV, but his dance show was dropped. The payola scandal wrecked Freed's professional life. After losing his New York shows, he held a daytime job with KDAY in Los Angeles, but his career took a depressing downward dip. In 1960, Freed was charged with accepting $30, 650 in payola from six record companies.
He always denied taking direct bribes, and said he accepted gifts only when he played records he was sure would be hits anyway.
Nevertheless, in 1962, while at radio station WQAM in Miami, Freed pleaded guilty to two charges of commercial bribery. He was given a six-month suspended sentence and fined $300; five other charges were dropped. His career shattered, Freed moved to Palm Springs, California, where he spent the last years of his life.
In 1963 he told reporters that he was bankrupt. The following March he was indicted for evading $37, 920 in income taxes stemming largely from payola payments received between 1957 and 1959.
Through October 1964, Freed played jazz records on radio station KNOB in Los Angeles. Shortly thereafter he was taken ill with uremia, and died in Palm Springs.
While visiting Mintz's record store, Freed noted the popularity of black "rhythm and blues" records with white youths. In the music trade rhythm and blues records were known as "race" records because they were sold mostly to jukebox operators in black neighborhoods. Freed began to follow his evening classical music show with the music that he called "rock 'n' roll. "
Actually, Freed did not invent the term "rock 'n' roll"--it is of blues origin and was used as a euphemism for fornication--but he deserves full credit for naming the new music and popularizing the term.
Freed's show was carried by stations outside Cleveland, and he soon received national attention.
Whenever the slim, youthful announcer walked on stage, usually wearing a loud, checkered sports jacket, he was greeted with a shrieking welcome akin to that given the Beatles nearly a decade later.
Freed was married three times. His first marriage was to Betty Lou Bean; they had two children. After divorcing his first wife, he married Jacqueline McCoy; they had two children. The marriage also ended in divorce. His third wife's name was Inga.
