Same As It Ever Was...

On this date (5/19) back in 1960, Disc jockey and TV personality Alan Freed, who coined the term "rock 'n' roll," is arrested along with seven other people on suspicion of commercial bribery. In January, the National Association of Broadcasters had decreed that disc jockeys accepting payment from record labels for broadcasting particular songs would be charged a $500 fine and spend a year in prison. The practice, called payola, had provoked an extensive investigation by the NAB. (courtesy of History.com). Not surprisingly, Payola is alive and well, 66 years later. As noted last just summer: "Sony BMG Music Entertainment admitted that its employees lavished cash, trips and other bribes on radio stations and their employees to get its music on the air in a settlement that is part of a wider investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer into payola in the music industry.". And more here....