To many, he’s the father of rock radio. Disc jockey Alan Freed (aka The Moondog) started playing rock and roll on a Cleveland station as early as 1952, and is often credited with introducing the format to audiences for the first time.
 
He died way too young at the age of just 43, after his success led him to WINS in New York City (then still a music station) and he got caught up in the payola scandal, effectively ending his radio career.
 
Freed’s remains have been uprooted several times, including a dozen year stay at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the city that first made him famous. He’s since been reburied in a separate Cleveland cemetery, and it would be hard to miss his gravestone.
 
Thanks to an intervention by “Little” Stevie van Zandt, the world’s first rock DJ has a monument for the ages. A rounded glossy front headstone shows the details of his life, while the back is fittingly shaped like a jukebox.
 


 
You can see more images of the stone here.