Alan Freed Impact On Rock And Roll

Alan Freed’s Impact on the Rise of Rock ‘n’ Roll 1950’s America was an era where most radio listeners could enjoy the sounds of Big Band music, Frank Sinatra style crooners, and a few pop tunes. This was typical on the playlists at the time, however, this style of music was slowly opening the way towards a new genre of music. This new genre of music was being introduced on the radio in Ohio by a disc jockey by the name of Alan Freed. Alan “Moondog” Freed started out by playing a mixture of rhythm and blues radio; music that was performed by black musicians and intended for black audiences. This rhythm and blues music has not yet gotten onto mainstream radio, but would soon be played by disc jockeys all over the country under the

However, Freed was the first to use the term “Rock ‘n’ Roll” to refer to rhythm and blues music that was crossing over to white teenage audiences. Rhythm and blues was largely segregated genre, much like American society at the time. This new term of “Rock ‘n’ Roll” helped bridge the gap between the two cultures that both enjoyed the same music.

Freed worked under Leo Mintz in the early 1950’s who encouraged him to emcee a rhythm and blues radio program at WJW radio. Mintz was the owner of the Record Rendezvous, one of Cleveland’s largest record stores, and he had noticed young white kids buying what had been considered exclusively black music a few years earlier. Mintz believed that the R&B music was appealing to the white kids because of its beat,

Freed was making a name for himself with his stylistic influence on what teenagers where listening and dancing to. Rolling Stone writer John Morthland would later observe: “Freed yips, moans and brays, gearing up for another evening hosting the hottest rhythm & blues show in the land. He spins the hits and continues his manic patter throughout the night, spewing forth rhymed jive with the speed and flections of a Holy Roller at the Pearly Gates.” Another reporter by Cash Box wrote: “This reviewer has been through the teen age hysteria that existed from 1936 through 1945 when the kids danced in the aisles to the music of Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey and others, but never have these eyes seen fanatical exuberance such as the type displayed at Alan Freed’s sensational 1st Anniversary Rock ’n roll program…” Freed’s radio style became infectious, and soon other radio hosts began imitating after his success, promoting similar rhythm and blues songs as mainstream music. Freed attempted to copyright the term “rock ‘n’ roll” which wasn’t widely used at the time, but soon, the wave of rock ‘n’ roll music made the term common parlance and Freed’s claim was for