Rock n Roll Invaders: AM Radio DJs

Starring: Alan Freed, Wolfman Jack Dvd Release: 1st May, 1999 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Black & White, Colour, NTSC, Region 0 Encoding

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For other persons by this name see Alan Freed. Alan Freed was born on December 15, 1922 & died on January 20, 1965. He was a Caucasian-American disc-jockey, who became internationlally known for promoting African-American Rhythm & Blues music on the radio in the United States & Europe under the name of Rock & Roll. Many of the top African-American performers of the first generation of rock & roll, salute Alan Freed for his defacto pioneering attitude in breaking down racial barriers among the youth of 1950s America. Partly in response to his non-racist attitude, his career was destroyed by example during the payola scandal in which other djs such as Dick Clark managed to survive. While Alan Freed called himself the father of rock & roll, he was not the first to use the term nor the first to play it on the airwaves. He was a promoter & he was very successful at what he did, until his own personal failings became exploited by others. They built their own careers upon the legacy created by Freed, while Freeds personal career was obliterated.

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Wolfman Jack was the stage name of a disc jockey hugely popular in the 1960s & 1970s. Born Robert Smith in Brooklyn, New York, he came to prominence in the United States in the 1960s as a disc jockey on Mexican radio stations, including a stint with XERF -AM, which broadcast into the United States with a transmission of 250,000 watts, five times more powerful than any American stations. The hip, sexually suggestive Wolfman Jack persona allowed Smith to ignore the prevailing racial segregation of American radio. Wolfman Jacks program was broadcast to much of the United States & into Canada. He played whatever music he liked, regardless of the performers ethnicity. Any night a listener might hear a mix of blues music, rockabilly, doo-wop, zydeco, rock & roll, jump blues, rhythm & blues or jazz. He frequently punctuated his broadcasts with howls, which, along with his gravelly voice, made him instantly recognizable. This style was modelled, at least in part, on bluesman Howlin Wolf. Smith was Caucasian, but many listeners assumed he was African American.

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