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Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Evicts Alan Freed's Ashes
August 4, 2014 at 4:03 AM (PT)
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ALAN FREED's ashes are in the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME, but the pioneering DJ who named the music is being evicted by the Hall, his son LANCE FREED told the CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER.
FREED, who is picking up the ashes TODAY (8/4), told the paper that the Hall's Pres./CEO GREG HARRIS told him, "people walk past the exhibit and your dad's ashes and they scratch their heads and can't figure out what this thing is, and we'd like you to come pick up the ashes." HARRIS told the PLAIN DEALER that only the ashes are being removed, not other FREED artifacts, that the plan was to return the ashes to the family all along, and that the display where the ashes have been residing will include a pair of FREED's microphones.
But LANCE FREED told the paper that the move is "pushing (his father) to the side. It's making him part of the passing parade, rather than a place where people can say, 'hey this is the guy who helped start it all.'" He said that the family will locate a CLEVELAND cemetery for the remains.
FREED's career exploded in the 1950s when he hosted at WJW-A/CLEVELAND; after stints at WINS-A and WABC-A/NEW YORK, the payola scandal of 1959 ended his ascent, and he passed away at 43 in 1965.

