alan freed

The DJ who gave 'Rock 'n' Roll' its name and it's music to America and Europe.
In the 1956 film Rock, Rock, Rock, Freed tells the audience that "rock and roll is a river of music that has absorbed many streams: rhythm and blues, jazz, rag time, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat."
In Europe, Freed recorded a weekly half-hour segment on Radio Luxembourg called Jamboree and changed how DJ's were working and what the audience were hearing. 208 magazine program guide described him at the time as - "the remarkable American disc-jockey whose programs in the States cause excitement to the fever pitch."
Alan Freed was also mentioned in The Ramones song "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" as one of the band's idols in rock and roll.
Now that definitely would have pleased the man.

john peel

25th October 2004, John Peel died in Cuzco, Peru of a heart attack, aged 65. He was BBC’s longest-serving radio DJ.
He had championed many bands over the years, one of his early favourites being Captain Beefheart and then on through 4 decades of music to the White Stripes.
In later years inviting some of them to record sessions at his home, where he also broadcast the show from, in East Anglia.
In 1976 he was to play the first punk records to his audience. He would listen to tapes and records sent in from unknown artists and always gave them equal time as the known bands, even calling them personally on some occasions. All the groups new the debt they owed to a John Peel play.
Proof of the man’s legacy is that the anniversary of his passing has become an annual day of celebration, with gigs, radio shows, record fairs and even specific releases happening in his honor.
So to mark this anniversary today, here are a few minutes from the beginning of the hour broadcast of his first punk show on 10th December 1976. There has never been anyone since to replace his presence on radio. It's unlikely there ever will be.

ltj bukem

One of the high points in radio broadcasting came in 1997 when LTJ Bukem was to DJ on Kiss Fm radio in the UK on a weekly spot between 9-11pm.
On this occasion he was standing in for DJ Randall just after New Years Eve 1998. Here's a few minutes from the start of the show. It was always fascinating to hear how the drum and bass master was going to lead his way into two hours of cosmic beats. The skill of spinning in his own beats and textures for a live broadcast  was one of the must hear moments of the nineties.
(picture copyright vasa)