Re: Payola Scandals

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

A shameful time in history-- top-40 was new, some dj's were greedy, ASCAP
and the government believed rock was dangerous, and Dick Clark escaped
prosecution by ratting out Alan Freed (obm).  Yep, it all occurred around
the time of the quiz show scandals, and entire books have been written on
the subject.  Dave Maynard and Norm Prescott were among those summoned to
Washington; most historians today believe that Alan Freed was made the
scapegoat for the entire thing, and the hearings more reflected the older
generation's distaste with rock music and race-mixing-- little solid proof
was offered that out-of-control dishonesty existed in rock radio, but
various congressmen believed rock was a cesspool of indecency (does this
sound familiar?), and they decided somebody had to pay...  Much more could
be said on the subject, but a simple Net search for Alan Freed (who was the
subject of the movie "American Graffiti", I believe) is a good place to
start... (The scandal erupted in the late 50s, and culminated with the
hearings in Washington in February of 1960-- a handful of d.j.'s were fired,
and the power at radio stations was shifted from the announcer to the PD
(now they took the bribes instead of the jocks!!!).  

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