As host to the first network television series devoted to rock and roll
and the longest running musical show in television history, American Bandstand,
Dick Clark made rock music palatable to the mainstream American public and helped promote
the careers of many rock and roll artists of the 50s, both the talents and no talents.
Richard Wagstaff Clark was born November 30, 1929 in Mount Vernon, New York where his
parents may have used a NYC house cleaning service to
clean their
home. He was an average student until he reached the tenth grade and discovered radio..At
that time he decided radio would be his career.
The summer after high school Clark was given a job at WRUN-AM radio in Rome, NY. The
station was owned by his uncle and run by his father. Clark was only an office boy, but
the station manager asked him to fill in for a vacationing weatherman on WRUN's new FM
station. By summer's end Clark had advanced to station breaks.
Clark attended Syracuse University where he majored in advertising with a minor in radio.
In his senior year he had a got a job with WOLF a country station in Syracuse He came back
to WRUN for a short time where he used the name Richard Clay that led to his first
television job, as a newscaster at WKTV in Utica, NY. Using the name Dick Clark in 1952 he
went to work for WFIL radio and television in Philadelphia, PA.That summer WFIL decided to
follow the new trend of having announcers play records over the air. Shortly there after,
they tried the same format on television. Bob Horn, a WRIL
radio deejay, aired an early form of music video on a show called "Bandstand".
Within a month teenagers were invited to come and dance while Horn played records.. The
show became very successful with the high school students.
At this time Clark was hosting a similar program on WFIL radio and in 1955 when Horn went
on vacation Clark filled in for him. Clark took over the show on July 9, 1956 after Horn's
drunken driving arrest.
Clark knew almost none of the songs, but had the insight to work with the kids. He'd ask
about favorite songs, clothing trends and watched for dance fads. At 26 he was young
enough to be a friend and projected a none threatening image. After several years of local
success Bandstand went national. The first national broadcast of American
Bandstand was on August 5, 1957 on ABC-TV from 3:00-4:30 P.M.. This was the perfect
time to reach teens coming home from school. Girls that appeared on the show weren't
allowed to wear slacks or tight sweaters and the boys had to wear a coat and tie. Smoking
and chewing gum was not allowed. The show was built around a regular group of Philadelphia high school students who developed their own
national following
American Bandstand provided the first national exposure of Chuck
Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly,
and Chubby Checker among others. The success of the show also encouraged the proliferation
of local labels such as Cameo-Parkway, Swan, Jamie, and Chancellor. Clark
was financially involved in Swan and Jamie, and acts for these labels, and acts for these
labels seemed to prosper more than most as a result of exposure on American Bandstand.
On Feb 15, 1958 The Dick Clark Show received a spot in ABC-TV's Saturday night
line up.. It featured established as well as new acts and was broadcast live from New
York. Twenty million fans were watching American Bandstand and by the end of the
year was being carried on sixty-four stations.
"The man was big. He was the biggest thing at the time in America at that time. He was bigger than the President!" ....... Hank Ballard, The Midnighters
With the large number of viewers having a new song played on the show virtually
guaranteed that thousands of the record would be sold in the next week. A record played
daily had a good chance of going top ten. Agents attempted to get their acts on the show.
Soon the power of the show became a concern within the music business.
Many people in the business thought Clark was more concerned with local music companies
then national desires. Philadelphia's record companies were frequent guests. They also
noted, Clark had invested in local record pressing plants and the records they
manufactured were played more often on American Bandstand then those from
elsewhere.
In 1959 a US Senate subcommittee began investigating payola
within the music business.Clark along with Alan Freed were of
particular interest to the committee. Investigators found that Clark had partial
copyrights to one hundred and fifty songs, many of them were played on his show. Also,
there were ties to thirty three music related businesses, including publishers, recording
companies, and pressing plants, most being located in Philadelphia.
Clark admitted to accepting a fur stole and expensive jewelry from a record company president. He was admonished for only this single transgression, despite the fact that songs and artists that he held considerable financial interests were frequently feature on American Bandstand.
At the end of the investigation the Senators could find nothing illegal. In mid October, 1959 ABC-TV told Clark to give up these outside businesses or leave the network. Clark sold those interests
Clark moved his headquarters to Los Angeles in the 1960s. In 1965 he produced
"Where The Action Is" for ABC-TV. Hosted by Paul Revere and the Raiders it was a
"Bandstand" type show. Clark continued to host American Bandstand after it left
ABC-TV and went into syndication. When he quit hosting in 1989 it had become the longest
running television variety show of all time.
In 1973 Clark produced the American Music Awards Show. The show was to offset
what younger music executives felt of the Grammy awards toward "adult contemporary
music" Clark also became host for "$10, 000 Pyramid" and "TV's
Bloopers and Practical Jokes"
Shares of Dick Clark Productions began trading in 1987. In 1990s he produced made for TV
films as well as theatrical movies
Clarks personal taste in music was set in the 40s. This can be seen in American
Bandstand he choose "Bandstand Boogie" by Les Elgarts Orchestra. The
Dick Clark Show shifted away from rockers and by 1959 "pop" performers were
appearing frequently
Clark tried to get a feel for the music he played and genuinely liked the teenagers and performers as individuals. However, Clark said
that the sole reason for his relationship with rock and roll was for the money. Asked what
his main contribution was Clark replied that he was proud to present more artists on
television then anyone else. However, Clark had a large share of the responsibility for
changing rock and roll from a vital energized music in 1956 into the homogenized 'teenpop'
in 1959
Dick Clark was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993
