In late 1971, U.S. protest folk singer-songwriter Phil Ochs performed with some other musicians (such as Stevie Wonder and former Beatles group member John Lennon) at a concert in Michigan that demanded the release of then-U.S. political prisoner John Sinclair, a member of the early 1970's White Panther Party.
In late 1971, U.S. protest folk singer-songwriter Phil Ochs performed with some other musicians (such as Stevie Wonder and former Beatles group member John Lennon) at a concert in Michigan that demanded the release of then-U.S. political prisoner John Sinclair, a member of the early 1970's White Panther Party
Before Alan Freed arrived from Cleveland in September 1954 to play Rhythm & Blues on NYC's WINS radio six nights a week, a DJ named Willie Bryant had apparently been featuring Rhythm & Blues on his NYC show since the 1940's. As Big Beat Heat: Alan Freed And The Early Years Of Rock & Roll by John A. Jackson recalled in 1991:
"At an uptown rally in a Harlem YMCA, angry Blacks characterized Freed as an outsider who imitated Blacks...The loudest...complainer was Willie Bryant, a local rhythm & blues disc jockey...Bryant...in 1946 became the first Black deejay to host a national radio music program. On local radio, Bryant teamed up with Ray Carroll, a white man, and the pair hosted their `After-Hours Session,' broadcast on New York's WHOM from 11:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. After featuring R & B on the air since the 1940s, however, Bryant and Carroll `couldn't get arrested, ' while the minute Freed hit town his WINS program took off. To Willie Bryant, Freed's eclipse of the Black deejay was simply another example of the racial discrimination he had experienced throughout his long career..."
In his 2000 book, The Covert War Against Rock, Alex Constantine also observed:
"...John Elroy McCaw....was...instrumental in bringing Alan Freed to New York...After the war, McCaw bought a New York radio station, WINS at Seven Central Park West...By the early 1950s the station pioneered twenty-five minutes of....popular crooners of the day, followed by five muntes of news...`Top 40,'...owes its very existence to McCaw, Alan Freed's boss, the entrepreneurial brains behind `big beat' radio...at ease in the closed chambers of Washington's national security `elite.'...John E. McCaw died in 1969. He sired four sons, including Craig McCaw, who has been as influential in the molding of media..."
