End of the Century: The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll Radio
By Lisa Hood-Anklewicz

If you have ever seen the episode “Good Morning Peoria” of the television show Quantum Leap, where the main character, Sam, inhabits the body and life of a DJ in Peoria, Illinois in the year 1954, you would have seen the struggle that Sam participated in to keep a small town rock ‘n’ roll radio station on the air.  Despite being dramatized, this is a taste of what it took for rock ‘n’ roll to make it to the airwaves. The structure of the story was the same.  All that had been changed were the names of its players.  This example shows the sociological and political state that rock ‘n’ roll radio not only was born into, but also helped to create.

The history of rock ‘n’ roll radio is not merely a discussion of music, but of society, politics and history.  Rock ‘n’ roll was a term given to most types of music by black artists between the years 1949 and 1954.  The name rock ‘n’ roll was not applied to the specific musical style as we know it today, until the mid-1950s, when white artists started playing this “black music.”  In a period of political strife and racial segregation, rock ‘n’ roll radio became one of the first places that racial integration couldn’t be avoided. To understand how this music made it to the radio, and why it caused the reactions it did, we need to go back about 35 years.

In 1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) was formed. For the first time, musicians had representation to monitor the sale and performance of their work, ensuring that their royalties were paid. ASCAP’s artists consisted mostly of writers and performers of classical, Broadway and Tin Pan Alley music. The artists not accepted by ASCAP generally belonged to the genres known at the time as “race music” and “hillbilly.” Without ASCAP representation, these artists were rarely heard outside of their local communities. These communities would eventually become the places that rock ‘n’ roll grew out of, and, with or without ASCAP, would eventually make it to the radio.

In the first half of the twentieth century, broadcasters not only paid royalties for the music they aired, they also paid a blanket licensing fee to ASCAP, who had a virtual monopoly on the music licensing market at the time.  By 1939, ASCAP’s licensing fees reached a level that the broadcasters thought was too high to pay. As a result, that same year the different broadcasting companies came together and formed BMI, the Broadcast Music Incorporation.  In the radio industry, most stations left ASCAP as soon as their contracts ended, and joined BMI. However, ASCAP still held the monopoly on licensing for the music that the majority of radio owners relied on to fill their airtime. 

A monumental shift began in the music industry. In need of music to fill the radio time, BMI began representing those artists that ASCAP formally rejected. Suddenly, “race music” and “hillbilly” were beginning to have exposure beyond their own front doors. In 1941, ASCAP’s push for higher fees caused a breaking point and BMI began a complete boycott of ASCAP which lasted for ten months. During that time, no music or artists that were represented by ASCAP were played on the radio. In turn, the radio relied solely on independents and BMI’s own artists, and the airwaves were blanketed with “race music” and “hillbilly,” giving both genres national exposure for the first time.

At about the same time as the ASCAP boycott, a shift in the social demographic began in the United States, which greatly impacted the music industry. African American citizens began a large population move; rural to urban; south to north or west. The shift provided the African Americans with better jobs and higher wages, increasing their purchasing power. In addition, the population shift created new social conditions and mindsets in the community. These social changes moved away from the “Jim Crow” segregation laws and laid the groundwork for civil rights. All this directly influenced the music being created by the African American community.

The music was changing, and the beginnings of rock ‘n’ roll were laid down, but the music didn’t reach the radio on its own merit. A technological change in Middle America allowed the opportunity for rock ‘n’ roll radio to become a reality. The first television stations were being developed, and by 1945, six stations were on the air across the United States. The number of stations grew quickly. The owners and investors in the communications companies saw this rise of television as a sign that radio was on its way out. Television was the future, and in 1947 the companies pulled out of radio interests quickly and, believing that there was no future in radio, sold the stations cheaply. Most stations were bought by local entrepreneurs, small independent mom and pop operations looking to make something of themselves or the station. By 1952, the major network ownership of radio fell from 97 percent to just 30 percent.

The stage was set for the birth of rock ‘n’ roll radio.  With radio stations in the hands of independent owners, another shift in the music industry occurred. Most of the new owners had very little money to work with and looked for any way to cut costs. Prior to the big sell-off, most radio entertainment was live. This was costly, paying for the performers and the royalties to the music. Faced with these costs, the new owners turned to recorded music for airplay, which proved to be much cheaper and just as effective.

The other major problem that the new owners faced was keeping enough of an audience to make a profit.  1947 also saw the FCC alter regulations limiting the number of radio stations that could be in a single market share, from 3-5 to 8-10. There were now twice as many stations to compete with. In 1948, one such station decided to go at it as a “hillbilly” station, and unfortunately lost money quickly. Out of desperation, the owner turned to “race music.” Not only did this save the station, but the popularity of this black music station began to spread. One year later, four stations whose formats were termed “black appeal” were on air in the United States, growing to 200 by 1954 and doubling to 400 by 1956.

In the years that these “black appeal” radio stations were taking off, racial segregation was still a major social issue and political hot spot and it was still strictly enforced in some parts of the United States. But suddenly, for the first time, segregation couldn’t be enforced in the one place that would become hugely significant, not only musically, but socially as well. Now known as rock ‘n’ roll, black music was coming into the homes of urban white Middle America.  By 1951, black records were turning up on white music charts and white radio stations began playing black recordings.



The phrase "rock ‘n’ roll" was first used by a white radio DJ, Alan Freed, who used his radio show Moondog’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Party to successfully pitch black music to a white youth demographic. By 1954, Freed’s show had moved to a larger station in New York and received the highest ratings on the East Coast. In the same year, record sales hit 213,000,000 units, more than double since 1945. Rock ‘n’ roll was to become the first youth specific genre of the 1950s and Freed drove the frenzy as much as possible. In 1955, Freed began holding live dance parties, the start of crowds becoming part of the 1950s rock and roll music experience. 



Meanwhile in Philadelphia, a local television station had been airing a music dance show since 1952, hosted by Dick Clark. Known as American Bandstand, the show also contributed to the crowd experience but in a controlled format and with a dress code. The major difference between American Bandstand and Alan Freed’s dance parties was in the music. While Freed openly promoted rock and roll, American Bandstand stuck with what had been the mainstream pop before rock and roll began its rise, namely Tin Pan Alley and doo-wop. American Bandstand seemed to fight against rock ‘n’ roll, trying to regain some control in the music market.

With Freed’s influence, rock ‘n’ roll was the popular music style, and white artists began to play it as well.  Bill Haley and the Comets were the first white artists to have any type of success in rock ‘n’ roll with "Shake, Rattle and Roll."  In 1955, Haley had the number one selling album of the year with Rock Around the Clock on Decca. With white artists now creating what was seen as a “black music,” the name rock ‘n’ roll started to refer to the sound of the music, not the race of those who were making it.

The music was making its mark on the youth culture and the youth were eating it up, both on the radio stations and in the record stores. Still, society considered the music to be “black” and related it to racial tensions and fears. Though many artists had commercial success, very few made it without controversy of some type. An artist that incited one of the worst social reactions was Chuck Berry. Berry began releasing his music in 1955, and people were confused, complicating the social impact which was that he was considered a black artist who “sounded white.” Up to this point, white artists “sounding black” had been met with misgivings, but in the social consciousness, it was unthinkable to reverse the idea, and those opposed to rock ‘n’ roll didn’t take it lightly. On the other hand, Berry became rock ‘n’ roll’s first guitar hero and defined rock ‘n’ roll guitar playing for those that followed him.



Despite the popularity of rock ‘n’ roll, the political and social oppositions were beginning to rear their heads, and events that could threaten to put an end to rock and roll began. The majority of the artists that had been getting radio play on rock ‘n’ roll stations were part of BMI and of independent record companies.  Between 1954 and 1956 the major record companies tried to get their foot in the door of the rock ‘n’ roll market and created what is now remembered as the “cover phenomenon.”  When a black artist was preparing to release a new recording, usually on an independent label, the major recording companies would attempt a counter action. Almost simultaneously, the majors would release a white cover of the same song in an attempt to “win” over the black recording, in record sales and on the radio. The white recording was always a stripped down, “cleaned-up,” version of the original, and sometimes the differences could change the feeling and meaning of the song.  Compare Little Richard and his performance of “Tutti Frutti” to that of Pat Boone.  By today’s standards, Boone’s version seems almost like a comedy recording, but at the time Boone had thirty-eight Top 40 hits with these covers in that two year span.

In 1956, everything changed; music, society, and politics.  Radio was trapped in a web between them all, fighting for survival. 1956 was the year of Elvis - and Elvis was the straw that broke the camel's back.

January 1956 saw Elvis Presley’s first television appearances. The youth market that Alan Freed had helped to create were immediately drawn to him. Girls went into a frenzy never seen before and boys adjusted their personal appearance under his influence, but the remaining public was dumbstruck.  Elvis’ choice to use rhythm and blues in his music didn’t fit in with society at this time. White families were trying to hang onto segregated morals and Elvis was perceived as dangerous and threatening.

Television critics tore Elvis apart for his stage performances. The fear of corruption went so far that a Florida judge ruled an order to stop him from gyrating on stage. Despite all of this, Elvis saw the music industry’s first artist merchandising deal, consisting of seventy-two items that sold $22,000,000 over six months in 1956. The youth market had formed a subculture and began to have a social influence, although the full affect of this didn’t take place until the 1960s with the hippie generation.

1956 also saw the onset of a “moral panic” surrounding rock ‘n’ roll.  It was there that radio was to make its stand against the social and political pressures in order to keep rock ‘n’ roll alive. The new African-American social mindset had begun to show itself in society. Notably, 1954 saw Brown vs. Board of Education and the beginnings of the breaking down of the “Jim Crow” segregation laws. 1955 followed this up with a Supreme Court order that school boards must integrate with “all due speed.” And in December of that year, Rosa Parks spurred the beginning of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. All these events lead up to the civil rights movement, but in 1956 they caused panic in the white population. The African-American population was standing up for itself and the white population didn’t know how to handle it. They took aim at the music and those who played it, promoted it and sometimes those who listened to it.

A key name in this attack on rock ‘n’ roll and the spread of the “moral panic” was Asa Carter. Carter was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and to make his point, he got a group together and attacked Nat King Cole on stage during a performance.  Carter degraded Cole by labeling him as “the rock and roll problem.” Carter then went on to preach that rock ‘n’ roll caused communism and delinquency and promoted integration and anti-Christian behavior. Carter’s message spread like wild fire and at every opportunity he would encourage it and the “moral panic” would grow.

The three greatest fears attributed to rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s were also claimed as motivation for attacks on it: delinquency, sex and race. The attacks weren’t just on the music, but also became personal and institutional. Personal attacks were often aimed at the artist themselves. “Elvis the Pelvis” was meant as a degrading put down and Asa Carter’s attack on Nat King Cole took it to a physical level. When aim was taken at the institutions, radio stations were threatened with being shut down by local politicians and companies pulled their advertising support, but it was the DJs that received the biggest blows. It began on a small scale level, with slander and threats, all locally. Eventually it was  brought before a committee.

The “moral panic” spread so widely that it seemed, for a time, to be achieving the goal of eliminating rock ‘n’ roll.  By 1958, Elvis had been drafted into the army and Little Richard was on his way to becoming a minister.  In 1959, Chuck Berry was jailed, and most tragically, the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens occurred.  By 1959, rock ‘n’ roll held the number one pop record for only 11 weeks of the entire year. Then, to put the final nails in the coffin, ASCAP entered the picture, not on the airwaves but in the courtroom.

In 1959, a house committee was formed at the request of ASCAP as a result of their concern over the independent dominance of radio play. ASCAP assumed that the only reason that the independents (including BMI artists) were successful was because DJs were being bribed and paid off to play the recordings, and ASCAP wanted it proven. Known as the payola hearings, payola being defined as a payment given in exchange for promotion of commercial products, the whole affair became a smear campaign against rock ‘n’ roll. If a DJ admitted to taking payola, it reflected badly on the whole of rock ‘n’ roll, discrediting the artists and independent companies in one fell swoop.



Many DJs were brought into the hearings, but the most notable were, of course, Alan Freed and Dick Clark. Both were given the option to either retire from broadcasting or relinquish all investments in the recording industry. Clark opted to sell off his investments, was released from the hearings and continued his career. Freed, on the other hand, refused to cooperate on the principal that he had done nothing wrong. However, he did admit to taking payola. Freed was fined on two counts, and the hearings virtually ended his career. Fearing Freed’s fate, most other DJs cooperated and continued their careers. Freed died in 1965.

For a short time, the payola hearings and the moral panic was seen as a success. Rock ‘n’ roll no longer dominated the airwaves and the payola hearings eliminated Alan Freed, the man blamed for starting it all. The payola hearing changed the way radio operated; DJs no longer had the power to pick their own records to air, but instead were given pre-approved program lists created by a program director.  True, radio was without rock ‘n’ roll for the most part, but the major labels had stepped in and provided a plethora of teen idols.  Doo-wop, surf music, girl groups, white blues and, of course, sentimental pop, had taken over the airwaves, with a clean cut and polished presentation. The music still appealed to the youth market, but not with the same frenzy that rock ‘n’ roll had brought along. The biggest difference between this period of music and rock ‘n’ roll, was that is was generally socially acceptable.

This victory wave was only to last until 1964, when rock ‘n’ roll made its sudden reappearance. This time, the British reintroduced America to their own musical creation. This music came from two sources - London produced the R&B rock revival with artists like The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds and Liverpool produced the pop-rock revival with The Beatles. The teen market revisited the frenzied state that the first wave of rock ‘n’ roll had seen, only in more numbers.

Suddenly, rock ‘n’ roll swarmed the radio airwaves again, and, as all new things are, the British Invasion was met with some resistance, though not as politically charged as the first wave. Rock ‘n’ roll was no longer seen in terms of race. Social conditions and mindsets had changed again.  This civil rights movement was in full swing, and society was becoming more adept at accepting the new and the different. 

After the British Invasion hit, rock ‘n’ roll radio was firmly grounded and held its own. The road ahead wouldn’t always be smooth, but there would at least be a road. The music would keep changing and the radio would change with it. 

There will always be someone who will declare that rock ‘n’ roll is dead or dying. One way or another, rock ‘n’ roll always manages to re-emerge, sometimes changed slightly, sometimes with a new name, but at its root it’s always rock ‘n’ roll.

The history of music and the industry it feeds is a tapestry woven so thick it may not be possible to ever learn it all. However, since the emergence of popular radio there has always been a cyclical pattern to the music that dominates the radio play. Often reflecting the historical struggle between ASCAP and BMI and the payola hearings, each cycle moves through two stages. One is commercially driven, often dominated by the major labels, and the music itself comes across as inauthentic and derivative. The second stage leans towards non-commercialization (making music for the love of the music), often dominated by the independent labels and artists, and the music is seen as innovative and authentic. The styles of music may pass through a number of cycles, not truly going away, they just become non-mainstream. The second stage of these cycles tends to be when a new musical style becomes validated as a genre, even if it has been around for some time before the stage begins. Since the Second World War, radio’s history has distinctly seen four of these cycles, as recorded by writer Michael Jarrett:

The first cycle:
- first stage - 1948-55, mainstream pop (Tin Pan Alley)
- second stage - 1956-59, rock and roll.

The second cycle:
- first stage - 1959-64, The “In-between Years” (Teen Idols)
- second stage - 1964-70, The British Invasion, folk revival, soul.

The third cycle:
- first stage - 1971-1975, corporate/progressive rock, disco
- second stage - 1975-82, punk, funk.

The fourth cycle:
- first stage - 1982-90, new wave, MTV Generation
- second stage - 1990-98*, alternative, hip-hop, heavy metal. 

* authors note - At the time of publishing, Jarrett had left this date as “to present”, which I believe is no longer the case. 1998 is the date that I have chosen as the turning point for the end of the fourth cycle. 

In each cycle the commercially driven/inauthentic stage is always followed by the non-commercial/authentic stage. At the time this is written, I personally believe that we are in the commercially driven stage of a fifth cycle, with the domination of the major labels, the “pre-fab,” American Idol artists and the lack of substance in the majority of the current radio Top 40 play lists. I also believe that we are at a point in time where the changes for the second stage are beginning, but only time and hindsight will tell for sure. 

How does all this affect radio – this is the biggest question. The majority of high rotation radio play over the last few years has been fabricated to sell, to make as much money as possible, drive merchandising sales and make the Top 40. A second payola scandal occurred in the late 1970s and over time radio programming seems to have become more and more strict. In the 1950s it could be a simple as walking into a radio station and handing them a copy of your record to get yourself on air. Now it can be very tough to get radio play, not just for independent or new artists, but for successful and well-established artists as well. 

The future of radio is hard to predict.  With heavy domination in the industry from companies like Clear Channel, many view the industry as under corporate control. For example, in May 2002 a joint statement was issued by a number of organizations showing that four groups, Chancellor, Clear Channel, Infinity, and Capstar control 63% of Top 40's listeners and 56% of Country's listeners in the United States. Many see these corporations as actually influencing the music sales by controlling what can and cannot be played on radio. In March of 2003, after political comments from Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, Cumulus Media pulled the Dixie Chicks music off all 42 of its radio stations. One of its radio stations even organized a CD burning rally. Many rumors circle around all of these companies about banned playlists or reluctance to air advertising created by those with a different political agenda than their own or the current government’s. 

Can a new stage of music change the face of radio again? Will the second stage emerge and win over the heavily controlled industry that radio has become today or will the music and the listeners turn else where for their exposure? The Internet and Satellite radio brings the possibility of online streamed radio, which allows the listener to tune into a station that plays exactly what they want to hear. If you want to turn the virtual dial to a reggae station you can, or if you want to find an acid jazz station, you probably will. There is also Apple’s iTunes, plug in your own music library, hit random, and you have your own personal radio station. I think history has firmly proven that rock ‘n’ roll will never die, but the way things are going, maybe, just maybe, radio will.

“Hey Hey, My My...”



If you would like to read more on the rise of Rock and Roll and its social impacts, please check out these books:

All Shook Up: How Rock 'n' Roll Changed America by Glenn C. Altschuler (part of the Pivotal Moments In American History series)

Black Radio ... Winner Takes All by Marsha Washington George

Legendary Pioneers of Black Radio by Gilbert Anthony Williams

Big Beat Heat: Alan Freed and the Early Years of Rock & Roll by John A. Jackson



For more information on the Radio broadcast companies mentioned in this article, please visit the following websites.

www.ascap.com

www.bmi.com

www.mowa.org/special/gateways/capstar

www.clearchannel.com

www.cumulus.com

www.infinityRadio.com



Sources:

“Dixie Chicks' chart wings get clipped” by Brian Mansfield, USA Today

“Concerning the Progress of Rock and Roll” by Michael Jarrett in Present Tense, Anthony DeCurtis editor

Rob Bowman BA, MFA, PhD - Associate Professor: Ethnomusicology Department of Music, York University

(www.yorku.ca/finearts/faculty/
profs/bowman/bowman.htm)

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