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musicNEWS: Rolling Stone Founder Honors Self With Rock Hall Induction


01-13-04 Keavin
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Jann S. Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone magazine and a driving force behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will be inducted into the Rock Hall this year in the non-performer category. Wenner, is currently chairman of Wenner Media, publisher of Rolling Stone and he was one of the founder of the Rock Hall. 

In 1967, Wenner, a 21-year-old Berkeley dropout co-founded the magazine with $7,500. He original intended the magazine to be "little rock 'n' roll newspaper from San Francisco".

But the magazine went beyond that, becoming the leading music publication in the market and is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. 

In 1986, Ahmet Ertegun, founder and chairman of Atlantic Records, spearheaded the idea of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with attorney Suzan Evans. Wenner became involved in the early planning stages along with attorney Allen Grubman and record executives Seymour Stein, Bob Krasnow and Noreen Woods. The building opened to the public 9-years later. 

Wenner has been actively involved with the Rock Hall since inception and sits on the board of directors. 

Wenner will be inducted into the hall along with George Harrison, Prince, Traffic, ZZ Top, Jackson Browne, the Dells and Bob Seger during a ceremony on March 15th at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. 

Not to say that Wenner does not deserve the honor, but it is nice when you can give yourself an award, while pretty much ignoring the critics and writers that helped make Rolling Stone the definitive music publication. 

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