Alan Freed WINS New York March 23, 1955 (0:58:37)

… “It’s certainly a shame to single out the teenagers in this country and make everybody look at them. Just because they are teenagers, it happens to be a sin. Uh, teenagers I’ve been dealing with for 13 years. They’re the greatest and most wonderful age group in America. Since when does it become a crime to become a teenager?” …

[Description by Larry Ware]

This is very classic, very enthusiastic Alan Freed on WINS/New York. He sings along with most of the songs, answers letters, relays messages to and from listeners, plays his cow bell, encourages his teenage audience, and spins all those “original” recordings – great stuff.

It’s obvious from listening to this aircheck that Mr. Freed thoroughly enjoyed the music he played and loved his work in radio. Most often he names the record label along with the title and artist and “bops” along to the beat.

At 36:26 into this aircheck, Alan talks about a dance on March 25th to raise money for “World Service” and gives us some insight as to how much he loved his audience.

It’s tragic that in only 4 years from this recording that Alan Freed would be on his way down with the Payola scandal of ’59 and eventually die at an early age of 43.

Welcome to the new ReelRadio!

This site is now operated by the North Carolina Broadcast History Museum. 

We want to thank the board of ReelRadio, Inc. for their stewardship since the passing of the founder Richard Irwin in 2018.  It has not been easy and they have maintained the exhibits for future generations to enjoy.

I met Richard Irwin, aka Uncle Ricky, when we were freshmen at East Carolina University.  We both had worked at local stations in our hometowns.  No one was more passionate about radio, especially Top 40 radio, than my friend Richard. 

Our goals with this site are to preserve the exhibits and make them available free of charge for people to enjoy.  Over time, we hope to add some airchecks to the site.  This will not happen immediately.  Time and resources will determine the future of new exhibits. 

Many thanks to the web folks at the Beasley Media Group for countless hours of work.  Again thanks to the board members of ReelRadio, Inc. for their faith in us. 

Richard Irwin’s hope was that his site would live on long after his passing. He said, “I hope REELRADIO will survive as my contribution to the ‘radio business’. The business is allowed to forget me, but the business should never forget the great era of radio that we celebrate here”.

We remember Richard and we thank him. If you enjoy this new site, we would appreciate a contribution. We hope you enjoy the new ReelRadio!

Board of NCBHP
North Carolina Broadcast History Project