top-40 in 1957

[Kevin Vahey]

I remember the Nuns at St Paul's in Cambridge were cool with any comic book
approved by this body.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority

Clayton and WHDH would never touch an Everly Brothers song as they were MOR
- they were the WNEW of Boston.

The Catholic newspaper the Pilot would list the 'banned' movies and music
every week from the Legion of Decency - lets just say my parents went to
confession a lot :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_condemned_by_the_Legion_of_Decency


On Fri, May 30, 2014 at 2:08 AM, Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com> wrote:

> So, I am trying to disprove a very durable myth.  A number of websites,
> and even a couple of books claim that "Wake Up Little Susie" by the Everly
> Brothers was banned in Boston.  I grew up here, and I absolutely remember
> hearing it on the radio.  I've checked various newspapers (given that a
> number of radio and music critics back then absolutely hated rock and roll,
> if the song got banned, you'd think someone would have mentioned it)-- but
> there was no mention that I could find in the Globe, Herald, Traveler, or
> several others.  No mention in Broadcasting magazine either, and Billboard
> repeatedly showed that the song was selling in Boston record stores.  But
> what really makes me think the story is a myth is that I found some old
> surveys that show WCOP played the song.  I also found weekly newspaper
> reports of what the top disc jockeys were playing-- these appeared in the
> Traveler and the Record American, and they continued to report airplay from
> WHDH's Bob Clayton's (his show, "Boston Ballroom," was very influential
> back then).  Do any of you have Boston radio surveys from October 1957, the
> month the song went to #1?  My guess is that the more conservative stations
> like WBZ did not play it, and there might have been some negative
> commentary about the song by the Boston Archdiocese--the Catholic Church
> had a lot of influence and I vaguely recall they had a list of songs,
> movies and books considered not okay for Catholics.  But I am not finding
> any evidence the song was in fact "banned in Boston."
>