Vintage Rock – September-October 2019

WMGM’s Peter Tripp, WWRL’s Tommy

“Dr Jive” Smalls, and WLIB’s Hal Jackson

and Jack Walker. Also booked were Mel

Leeds and two record librarians, all hauled

down to a local precinct for processing.

Tripp was found guilty on 35 counts but

was fined only $500 and given a suspended

sentence. Smalls and Walker pled guilty as

well. In December of ’62, Freed did likewise,

receiving a small fine and suspended

sentence. The FTC dropped its charges

against the record labels, and the Federal

Communications Commission decided

WINS wouldn’t lose its operating license

due to its payola involvement. No doubt

relieved, owner J Elroy McCaw quickly sold

the station for a massive profit.

The end result of all the payola

investigations? Apart from too many

sensationalistic headlines and too much

political bluster, the primary development

Unlike the feds, the state of New York
did have statutes on its books barring
commercial bribery. That gave Assistant
District Attorney Joseph Stone’s office the
ammunition required to investigate Freed’s
business practices as well as those of other
local broadcasters. Levy admitted in front of
a grand jury that he’d loaned Freed $20,000.
If America’s rock and roll DJs weren’t
already under siege enough, a US House
subcommittee began its hearings on payola
and its effects on radio programming in the
spring of 1960. Freed testified early in the
heavily publicised proceedings and Clark
later on; despite intense grilling, Clark
couldn’t be pinned down on any illegalities.
Neither could Freed, for that matter. But
he wasn’t so lucky with the New York grand
jury. On 19 May, 1960, he was arrested on
commercial bribery charges along with
popular local DJs from other stations:

was the homogenisation of rock and roll

radio via the widespread adoption of the

Top 40 surveys as the main source for

programming. Payola didn’t go away by

any stretch – the practice continued, with

program directors and music directors

hopping aboard the gravy train too.

When the smoke cleared, the principal

casualty of all the hubbub was Freed, whose

descent from fame and fortune was swift

and unforgiving. The hard-drinking Freed

had made more than his share of enemies

with his brash attitude over the years,

and job offers eventually dried up. He had

relocated to southern California a few years

before uremic poisoning killed him on 20

January, 1965 at age 43.

Happily, ASCAP never did get its wish.

Despite the organisation’s scurrilous

behind-the-scenes campaign, rock and roll

was here to stay. 9

From left: Mel Leeds, Peter Tripp and Alan Freed

looking chipper despite being booked at New

Bet York’s Elizabeth Street police station, 19 May, 1960

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The payola scandal