克城消息

Cleveland’s Exclusive International Cultural Institution is “The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame”

The inspiriting “birth” of rock, like the birth of mankind, lives in the DNA and spirit of Africans. Rock was incubated in America within tens of thousands of their souls, located in hundreds of American hamlets, including Memphis and Cleveland. The nomenclature of Rock and Roll originated on their lips, interpreting desires. Alan Freed knew this and was the first to name, and broadcast that name from Cleveland, the musical evolution of the spirit of Jazz, Blues & Soul he titled and branded as “Rock and Roll.”

   Rock left its “cradle” from Cleveland in 1970 when Jack Ambrozic, the General Manager, and Billy Bass, its first Program Director, joined forces to establish Cleveland’s WNCR FM Radio and its Progressive Rock Format. WNCR became the first commercially successful FM radio station in US broadcasting history. WNCR went on to become the number one FM radio station in America (Cream Magazine) and the number one radio station in Cleveland. Billy Bass became the first black Program Director of a US major market number one rated station. Billy moved from WNCR to become the founder and first Program Director of WMMS. (The Plain Dealer & Scene magazine archives will prove this history.)

Alan Freed Gave Birth to the Cleveland Legacy
 We have Nurtured to make CLE the “The Rock and Roll Capital of The World”
   He single handedly produced the first global musical cross cultural exchange that evolved to deliver new global economic drivers in excess of 4 trillion dollars. This unequaled cross cultural economic explosion served to profoundly enhance expendable income ratios in modern and third world economies around the globe.
    For the man who once said that Rock & Roll music “comes from a river of many streams,” a gentle rain fell as the ashes of pioneer broadcasting legend and concert promoter Alan Freed reached their final resting place on May 7, 2016, at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio. Hundreds of fans, family members, friends and VIPs came out to honor and celebrate the life and legacy of Alan Freed, the “Father of Rock ‘n Roll,” whose life’s work was the cornerstone upon which Cleveland’s radio broadcasting history -- one that changed the world forever -- and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, was built.

   Among the honored guests at the memorial celebration were Jack Craciun III, Chairman/CEO of ITM Ltd. and co-founder of WNCR, the first commercially successful progressive FM radio station in US broadcasting history, and P-Funk alumnus Ed “Dr. Phrock” Sparks who, along with ITM, has co-produced “Made in Cleveland (TBT),” the song that tells the true musical story of Cleveland’s multi-cultural Rock & Roll heritage and how it changed the world.

Made in Cleveland Lyrics:
“Cleveland ain’t no Joke”
The people of color,
“The Roots uh Rock-&-Roll”,
Like the birth of mankind - we all lie,
In their DNA & soul;
“Heights High - Deep Blues”

   Alan Freed is best known for coining the term “Rock & Roll,” but his efforts had profound and lasting significance. At a time when mainstream radio was ignoring R&B, or playing white cover versions, Freed went against the establishment by featuring the original R&B versions by black artists on his WJW radio program, “The Moondog Rock & Roll Party.” In 1952, tens of thousands of kids, both black and white, went insane to see the black performers Freed showcased at the Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland, considered the first Rock & Roll concert in history.
    Eventually broadcast throughout Western Europe via Radio Luxembourg, Freed’s integrated radio programming was heard by young musicians who attempted to copy the new sounds. Among those musicians were the young lads from Liverpool, eventually known as the Beatles, who have credited Freed for providing the foundations of their music.
The doors that Freed opened to deliver rock ‘n roll were blown off their hinges in the seventies when Cleveland’s WNCR became firstcommercially successful radio station in American broadcasting history! WNCR FM Radio redefined American radio and television broadcasting by ending AM radio leadership in the USA with its unique “Progressive Radio Format” to establish what ultimately grew into global FM Radio dominance and programming leadership in the fields of social service, news education and entertainment broadcasting and related promotions. “The Cultural Revolution” was the term that fueled the FM global broadcast renaissance.

   WNCR was the station that defined a new 18 to 24 year old global demographic as the “most aware and affluent segment of society on earth” which “represented the world’s largest population.” The commercial success of WNCR and its creative stereo and quadriphonic cross cultural music (think Muddy Waters defining England’s rock culture just as CLE’s rock culture much earlier in history was derived from the same spirit and culture of its “People of Color”) also contributed to the birth of Cleveland’s trend setting print publication, the Scene Magazine, and WNCR’s live broadcast production with the Cleveland Agora contributed significantly to the Agora being recognized as the “number one concert club in America.”
   Merging transatlantic musical cultures provided WNCR with unique music, programs and productions, that helped to establish FM radio stations all over America and Canada and then into Europe via “Radio Luxembourg,” South America and Japan. Cleveland’s global FM Radio broadcast history and rock and roll cross cultural entertainment programing has delivered in excess of $3.5 trillion of new economies representing significant new expendable income ratios for consumers located in third world nations around with world.
   The WNCR business model contributed to the development of the ABC (national) FM radio network, which consisted of 37 major US market FM stations and its establishment of the ABC “In Concert” national Radio / Television simulcast. “In Concert” became the first commercially successful simulcast in broadcasting history, achieving a weekly audience of 34 million listeners and viewers. This ABC simulcast model gave birth to MTV satellite broadcasting and the cable and wireless educational and entertainment Internet programing of today.
History is now repeating itself as ITM mirrors Alan Freed’s world changing legacy of musical cross cultural integration in its “The First DragonTM Global Chinese Cross Cultural Exchange Enterprise.” As the second of three albums in The First Dragon Music Suite(s), the Made in Cleveland (TBT) album by Elektrikk Sparks and produced by ITM contains eight new songs, including “Made in Cleveland (TBT),” the song that tells the true musical story of Cleveland’s multi-cultural Rock and Roll heritage and how it changed the world, and “Now is the Time (Do What You Do).” Made in Cleveland (TBT)merges the beats and vibes of Cleveland’s Funk, Hip Hop and Rock and Roll with the spirit of Chinese music themes.
Made in Cleveland Lyrics:
“Truth be Told”
The Future of “Rock & Roll”,
Is a Global CLEVELAND - China xChaaange,
To the 9’s this time,
Did it before we’ll do it again.
“Truth be told: Where Cleveland Goes so Goes The Globe;”
   The First Dragon Music Suite(s)TM are three unprecedented and culture defining albums that deliver a new brand of spirit and energy featuring a Rock and Roll cross-cultural exchange never before felt or heard. “Made in Cleveland (TBT)” and “Now is the Time (Do What You Do)” deliver a CLE attitude with the heart, soul and spirit of ITM’s dedication to transcend cultural boundaries in harmony with the legacy of Alan Freed to promote a mutual understanding of cultures through education and entertainment in its “The First Dragon? Global Chinese Cross Cultural Exchange” Enterprise.
   Seventy years ago, the world as we knew it changed forever as a result of the USA’S R&B and Rock-fed “British Invasion” which was born in Cleveland by Alan Freed and fueled by the 1970 ascent of WNCR and its new cultural Progressive Rock format. Freed and WNCR delivered the Rock Hall of Fame to Cleveland, its only global cultural institution and made Cleveland “The “Rock and Roll Capital of the World.” Today, along with the recent global ascent of urban music, a new horizon of global musical entertainment is awakening to a new CLE-led “China Invasion!”