Video Vault: Wooing the Rock Hall in 1986

CLEVELAND - In 1986, competition among cities to land the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame was fierce.

Cleveland wooed the Rock Hall’s board of trustees and offered them a variety of sites, among them the Allen Theater on Playhouse Square

In January 1986, WEWS reporter Bill Younkin was live from the Allen with speculation on site possibilities including using the Allen as a temporary location until a new facility could be built on North Coast Harbor.

Another place mentioned is the Central Market area, now home to Gateway.

Younkin hit a home run with the harbor site as it’s where I.M. Pei’s building ended up.

Younkin throws to his taped story on the USA Today phone poll. We see WMMS radio’s Jeff Kinzbach in his story.

Cleveland would tally more than 100,000 votes in the newspaper poll and crush the other cities.

One more Rock Hall story from Bill Younkin closes out this edition of the Video Vault. He talks to concert promoter Jules Belkin and Agora owner Hank LoConti on the cities’ rock and roll roots.

WMMS music director Kid Leo and our Don Webster, who hosted the rock TV show “Upbeat” from 1964 to 1971 close out the music insiders in his story.

Enjoy.