The Cleveland tie-in rests on the claim that Alan Freed first used the phrase "Rock n' Roll" while working at a radio station in Cleveland [before he came to New York].
As for the selection process [I wanted to find out how to nominate The Searchers], it's all music insiders from the nominating process to the selection, and the process is more secret than a Papal election. From the selections, it looks like musically influential artists [except The Searchers], obscure blues men, and people who sell lots of albums get in.
Billy Joel got into the RNR Hall of Fame, which makes the whole thing irrelevant as far as I'm concerned.