Symphony Sid

His show featured the biggest hits by black performers such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald.

[6] In an era when black music was still not frequently heard on the air, Symphony Sid was among the few white announcers who played what was then called "race" or "sepia" recordings on a regular basis.

In addition to being an announcer — in 1937, the word "disc jockey" was not yet in common use — Sid sold airtime for his own program and produced the commercials for his sponsors.

Some grateful performers even wrote songs that they dedicated to him: for example, in 1947, Arnett Cobb recorded "Walkin' With Sid" for the Apollo label.

[12] And as a result of his network show, jazz, especially the music of artists like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, gained wider exposure with a national audience.

[13] In his 1957 novel On the Road, based on his travels across the United States in the late 1940's, Jack Kerouac wrote that as he approached New York City in his car he listened to the Symphony Sid show on the radio with the latest jazz.

[15] Among the entertainers he had helped were such jazz performers as Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, and Billy Eckstine.

For example, there was a reference to "the dial is all set right close to twelve eighty" in the song "Jumpin' With Symphony Sid", which was written by Lester Young with lyrics by King Pleasure; the song mentioned the location on the radio dial where Symphony Sid's Friday night show could be found.

While the slang expression was "reefer", a home where marijuana was used and sold was known as "tea pad", and the police raided Sid's apartment in the summer of 1948, and arrested him.

[21] In the mid-fifties, Sid was instrumental in the growth of the Rhythm & Blues radio in Boston, giving out plastic key chain fobs that said "I Dig You the Most", but he never really embraced the music, and tried to interest his audience in Jazz.

Sid's show featured Latin music, Afro-Cuban jazz featuring artist such as Mongo Santamaría, Mario Bauzá and Machito for which, as Donald Fagen recalled in a letter to Countermoon Zine, his choice of music proved controversial,[7] and he was dubbed by some the "Jazz Traitor".

On the other hand, some critics found his Latin music show both interesting and important, and praised the concept as "an extraordinary meeting of cultures".

Sid Torin married three times, all ending in divorce (two of his wives were Eva Peña and Betty Ansley).

[23] While modern media critics acknowledge his importance and praise him for introducing certain jazz artists to a national audience, surviving recordings where he was the announcer do not fare so well.

[26] Because of his importance in that pre-rock music era, the staff of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland has included him in a display about the most influential disc jockeys in history.