ALAN FREED'S BIG BEAT TV SHOW DANCERS & ALAN'S PARTING STATEMENT (1959)
Then, WNEW-TV Metromedia Ch 5 New York (Now WNYW Fox5)
More on Alan Freed's final days below.
Screen 2 (below): Dick Clark's Televised Payola Response Before A Senate Investigator.
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About Dick Clark
Richard Wagstaff Clark was born November 30, 1929 in Mount Vernon, New York.He was an average student until he reached the tenth grade and discovered radio..At that time he decided radio would be his career.
The summer after high school Clark was given a job at WRUN-AM radio in Rome, NY. The station was owned by his uncle and run by his father. Clark was only an office boy, but the station manager asked him to fill in for a vacationing weatherman on WRUN's new FM station. By summer's end Clark had advanced to station breaks.
Clark attended Syracuse University where he majored in advertising with a minor in radio. In his senior year he had a got a job with WOLF a country station in Syracuse He came back to WRUN for a short time where he used the name Richard Clay that led to his first television job, as a newscaster at WKTV in Utica, NY. Using the name Dick Clark in 1952 he went to work for WFIL radio and television in Philadelphia, PA.That summer WFIL decided to follow the new trend of having announcers play records over the air. Shortly there after, they tried the same format on television. Bob Horn, a WRIL radio deejay, aired an early form of music video on a show called "Bandstand". Within a month teenagers were invited to come and dance while Horn played records.. The show became very successful with the high school students.
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ABOUT ALAN FREED
He was born Aldon James Freed in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, December 15, the son of Charles Sydney Freed, a clothing store salesperson, a Jewish man who emigrated from Lithuania,
and mother Maude Palmer Freed, who nicknamed her son 'Albert.'
When Aldon Freed was preteen, his family moved to Salem, Ohio.
Young Aldon Freed loved music and played the trombone in high school. He
formed The Sultans Of Swing band that played local gigs.
At Ohio State University he continued to lead the Sultans of Swing while
majoring in mechanical engineering. Freed left ODU in September, 1940 to join the Army Signal Corps,
where he served as a photographer. During his stint in the military he contracted a severe ear infection, which impaired his hearing and effectively ended his dream of becoming a
major name bandleader ;ole Glenn Miller or Duke Ellington, whose music Freed loved.
. Discharged from themilitary, Freed went looking for a job in radio broadcasting.
He landed a jon at WKST-AM in New Castle, a classical music station.
Although Freed later gained fame and be enamored to rock and roll,
he also appreciated classical music and opera.. His post at WKST lasted only about four months,
'Alan Freed' moved on to WKBN-AM Radio in Youngstown, Ohio, a mixed format station.
In 1949 Freed started a television career on WXEL-TV in Cleveland to host a teenage dance show.
The show was cancelled after 26 weeks by new station management. Freed returned to radio, hosting again classical music program on WJW Radio in Cleveland.
While in Cleveland, Freed became friends with Leo Mintz, a local record store owner who clued Freed to the
growing popularity of R&B (then called 'Race Music' by industry establishment).
White teenagers were flocking to Mintz's store to buy these so-called "race records,"
which had previously been sold almost exclusively in black ghetto areas. (If the songs moved up
the R&B charts, labels like Dot records (the most nefarious for, owned by Lawrence Welk and son in-law Randy Wood), Coral
(Theresa Brewer's label) and Camden, an RCA subsidiary, would release "white" (pop) versions;
i.e. Pat Boone's awful covers of Ain That A Shame, Tutti FruittiM The Crew Cuts cover of
The Chord's Sh Boom and The McGuire Sister;s droning cover to Pookie Hudson & The
Spaniels Goodnight, Sweetheart on and on. Mintz convinced Freed that it just made good sense to start
playing the original R&B versions on the air.
In mid-1951, with Mintz's support, Freed launched a new program on WJW-AM, Moondog's Rock 'n' Roll Party.
The course of rock and roll would be changed forever, to the dismay of bigots.. Freed was the first to use the term "rock 'n' roll"
to describe the R&B-inspired music. (In the lyrics of "Sixty-Minute Man," by the Dominos, used the words rock and roll as a euphemism for sexual intercourse,
as was the song's title.
The popularity of Moondog led to Freed staging live rock & roll concerts and presenting many r&b acts on stage,
who previously never played to a predominantly white audience.
"1010-wins," WINS radio in New York City, first reluctant to hire Alan Freed, especially as Moondog,
rethought their decision as they lost listeners to booming "Musicradio" WABC.
. In 1954 Freed quadrupled the station's ratings with his, Alan Freed's Rock 'n' Roll Party
weekday and Saturday nights. In only a few months the show was number one in its time slot.
Capitalizing on the popularity of his show and the music it featured, Freed staged a number of live Rock & Toll shows
at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, so well re-created in the Freed biopix, American Hot Wax,
He also appeared in moviesincluding Don't Knock the Rock, Rock Around the Clock, Rock, Rock, Rock.
Freed shared writing credits on a number of records, including Chuck Berry's big hit "Maybelline" and the Moonglows' "Sincerely," but it's suspected he contributed little or nothing to the songs and that the credits were given to ensure airplay.
This made Alan Freed a prime suspect in the federal payola investigation (see second article below)
In 1957, the ABC outlet in New York (WABC-TV ch7) gave Alan his show, Rock 'n' Roll Party,
which, like Phillie WPHL-TV's American Bandstand went network, unlike
Dick Clark's legendary success, Freed's show only lasted for less than a full season.
The network suits popped buttons over the Freed airing when Frankie Lymon danced
on canera with a white girl.
ALAN FREED AND CHANNEL 5 NEW YORK Freed went to Metromedia owned WNEW-TV (formerly the
flagship WABD Dumont Metwork station). In the local metro New York ratings, Alan's Saturday night show on WNEW-TV,
channel 5, 1958-59, (which is now WNYW Fox5) at times got higher numbers than Dick Clark's show, on the ABC
network, seen locally on WABC-TV channel 7. Clark's Beech Nut Party aired 7:30 to 8:00PM,
Freed's show 8:00 to 9:00PM. Remarkably, Clark didn't have to compete with prime time programming,
Alan did and yet on some weeks got more ratings points. That wasn't good enough for Metromedia, who
owned WNEW at the time. When Alan Freed refused to sign an FBI document acknowledging payola in the
rock and roll music business, channel 5 cancelled his weekday and Saturday night shows. Alan was
also fired from radio. Ironically, in top 40 music today, payola is "justified" by radio station
program directors as an "audition fee." As American Hot Wax, the movie bio of Alan Freed tells
us at the closing credits, Alan Freed died penniless in Miami. He worked for non-union
apprentice pay at a small station unheralded.
At the height of his rock and roll radio and concert promoting career
in 1957, Alan Freed cut a deal with WNEW-TV, channel 5 in New York after it's Du Mont network affiliation ended.
Taken over by Metromedia, Gotham's "Lively Channel 5" gave Alan the 5PM to 6PM slot Monday through Friday
(the slot after Dick Clark's American Bandstand ended on the ABC network on the east coast) and 8PM to 9PM
slot on Saturday nights (after Clark's Beech Nut Show also ended on ABC) to run his dance and guest
star stints. Freed and Metromedia had their first firey feud two weeks after The Big Beat began locally on
channel 5; the issues were Freed smoking on camera and girl dancer's dresses flying up a bit too high
(cited: a camera leer of a swing up move during jitterbug to Elvis' I Need Your Love Tonight record,
allegedly at the host's direction. Freed denied calling the shot and blamed it on director Vern Diamond).
Freed stopped puffing Camels on air and the cameras became more discreetly angled, but the big brouhau came in
1959 with the federal Payola investigation. Among other allegations, Freed was cited for acepting a
gold watch from singer Jackie Wilson which Freed had already admitted to on air. The FBI wanted a signed
document and there was never other more lucrative inducements from any recording artist or label.
When Freed refused to co-operate with the feds, Metromedia dropped him as host of The Big Beat and replaced him (after trying out several hosts)
with an Irish tenor, Richard Hayes. Hayes drew favorably with teen parents, but not with teens, especially when the
show swung from rock and roll to jazz show tunes. Metromedia dropped the show, Sandy Becker's kiddie cartoon show was expanded from 6 to 6:30
to 5 until 6:30 until Al Hodges decided to dust off his Captain Video suit. Alan Freed had also been dropped
by his radio stations and had to spend the remainder of his life working for a pittance at a low power
AMer in Miani. As noted in American Hot Wax, Freed died penniless and heartbroken.
Footnote The powers that be gave us permission to use a clip of Alan Freed's dancers, but
not any footage of Alan hosting the show. The clips of his Payola statement comes from a
news archive.
Dick Clark's Payola Statement Before The Senate Investigator::
Click Screen To Start Clip Playing
At this time Clark was hosting a similar program on WFIL radio and in 1955 when Horn went on vacation Clark filled in for him. Clark took over the show on July 9, 1956 after Horn's drunken driving arrest.
Clark knew almost none of the songs, but had the insight to work with the kids. He'd ask about favorite songs, clothing trends and watched for dance fads. At 26 he was young enough to be a friend and projected a none threatening image. After several years of local success Bandstand went national. The first national broadcast of American Bandstand was on August 5, 1957 on ABC-TV from 3:00-4:30 P.M.. This was the perfect time to reach teens coming home from school. Girls that appeared on the show weren't allowed to wear slacks or tight sweaters and the boys had to wear a coat and tie. Smoking and chewing gum was not allowed. The show was built around a regular group of Philadelphia high school students who developed their own national following
American Bandstand provided the first national exposure of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and Chubby Checker among others. The success of the show also encouraged the proliferation of local labels such as Cameo-Parkway, Swan, Jamie, and Chancellor. Clark was financially involved in Swan and Jamie, and acts for these labels, and acts for these labels seemed to prosper more than most as a result of exposure on American Bandstand.
On Feb 15, 1958 The Dick Clark Show received a spot in ABC-TV's Saturday night line up.. It featured established as well as new acts and was broadcast live from New York. Twenty million fans were watching American Bandstand and by the end of the year was being carried on sixty-four stations.
"The man was big. He was the biggest thing at the time in America at that time. He was bigger than the President!" ....... Hank Ballard, The Midnighters
With the large number of viewers having a new song played on the show virtually guaranteed that thousands of the record would be sold in the next week. A record played daily had a good chance of going top ten. Agents attempted to get their acts on the show. Soon the power of the show became a concern within the music business.
Many people in the business thought Clark was more concerned with local music companies then national desires. Philadelphia's record companies were frequent guests. They also noted, Clark had invested in local record pressing plants and the records they manufactured were played more often on American Bandstand then those from elsewhere.
In 1959 a US Senate subcommittee began investigating payola within the music business.Clark along with Alan Freed were of particular interest to the committee. Investigators found that Clark had partial copyrights to one hundred and fifty songs, many of them were played on his show. Also, there were ties to thirty three music related businesses, including publishers, recording companies, and pressing plants, most being located in Philadelphia.
Clark admitted to accepting a fur stole and expensive jewelry from a record company president. He was admonished for only this single transgression, despite the fact that songs and artists that he held considerable financial interests were frequently feature on American Bandstand.
At the end of the investigation the Senators could find nothing illegal. In mid October, 1959 ABC-TV told Clark to give up these outside businesses or leave the network. Clark sold those interests
Clark moved his headquarters to Los Angeles in the 1960s. In 1965 he produced "Where The Action Is" for ABC-TV. Hosted by Paul Revere and the Raiders it was a "Bandstand" type show. Clark continued to host American Bandstand after it left ABC-TV and went into syndication. When he quit hosting in 1989 it had become the longest running television variety show of all time.
In 1973 Clark produced the American Music Awards Show. The show was to offset what younger music executives felt of the Grammy awards toward "adult contemporary music" Clark also became host for "$10, 000 Pyramid" and "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes"
Shares of Dick Clark Productions began trading in 1987. In 1990s he produced made for TV films as well as theatrical movies
Clarks personal taste in music was set in the 40s. This can be seen in American Bandstand he choose "Bandstand Boogie" by Les Elgarts Orchestra. The Dick Clark Show shifted away from rockers and by 1959 "pop" performers were appearing frequently
Clark tried to get a feel for the music he played and genuinely liked the teenagers and performers as individuals. However, Clark said that the sole reason for his relationship with rock and roll was for the money. Asked what his main contribution was Clark replied that he was proud to present more artists on television then anyone else. However, Clark had a large share of the responsibility for changing rock and roll from a vital energized music in 1956 into the homogenized 'teenpop' in 1959
Dick Clark was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993
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