American Bandstand: The Beginning of Teen Music on TV and Dick Clark's Claim to Fame
© Patricia Jacobs
On August 5th, 1957, that a true musical icon was born. American Bandstand, with host Dick Clark, aired its first national show on ABC.
American Bandstand became the longest running series on the ABC network, which aired from 1957 to 1987! (It was resurrected for a year on USA in 1989.) It was the first network rock and roll show and the longest running musical show in television history. And it became the flagstore and launching pad of a media empire for Richard Augustus Clark II.
Dick Clark's Career in Radio
Born on November 30th, 1929 in Mount Vernon, New York, Dick Clark discovered the joy of radio in the tenth grade and proceeded to forge a career. A few years later, Clark was given a summer job at WRUN-AM radio in Rome, N.Y., a station owned by his uncle and run by his father. (Connections DO help!)
He started as an office boy, but advanced to fill-in for a vacationing weatherman on the WRUN's new FM station. By summer's end, Clark was doing station breaks. He attended Syracuse University (major in advertising with a minor in radio) where in his senior year, he worked at WOLF, a local country station.
He returned to WRUN for a short time as "Richard Clay" that then led to his first television job, as a newscaster at WKTV in Utica, N.Y. He also hosted a country music TV program called "Cactus Dick and the Santa Fe Raiders." Then in 1952, using the name "Dick Clark", he worked for WFIL radio and television in Philadelphia , PA.
Dick Clark's TV Career Launches
That summer WFIL started having announcers play records over the air; shortly after, the same format was tried on TV. Bob Horn, A WFIL radio deejay, became host of the new televised program "Bob Horn's Bandstand." Within a month, teenagers were invited to come and dance to the records played. The show began a successful run, from 1952 to 1957.
Clark was hosting a similar program on radio and filled in for Horn when on vacation. Then in 1956, Horn was arrested for drunken driving, while the station was conducting an anti-drinking when driving campaign(!!).
Clark took over the show on July 9th. And both became a local success. Clark's clean-cut, boy-next-door, "all-American" image, and the show itself was very reassuring to white, middle-class Americans who felt threatened by this new rock and roll music. (Rock was predominated by black artists at this time and for several years, pre-Beatles.)
American Bandstand became the longest running series on the ABC network, which aired from 1957 to 1987! (It was resurrected for a year on USA in 1989.) It was the first network rock and roll show and the longest running musical show in television history. And it became the flagstore and launching pad of a media empire for Richard Augustus Clark II.
Dick Clark's Career in Radio
Born on November 30th, 1929 in Mount Vernon, New York, Dick Clark discovered the joy of radio in the tenth grade and proceeded to forge a career. A few years later, Clark was given a summer job at WRUN-AM radio in Rome, N.Y., a station owned by his uncle and run by his father. (Connections DO help!)
He started as an office boy, but advanced to fill-in for a vacationing weatherman on the WRUN's new FM station. By summer's end, Clark was doing station breaks. He attended Syracuse University (major in advertising with a minor in radio) where in his senior year, he worked at WOLF, a local country station.
He returned to WRUN for a short time as "Richard Clay" that then led to his first television job, as a newscaster at WKTV in Utica, N.Y. He also hosted a country music TV program called "Cactus Dick and the Santa Fe Raiders." Then in 1952, using the name "Dick Clark", he worked for WFIL radio and television in Philadelphia , PA.
Dick Clark's TV Career Launches
That summer WFIL started having announcers play records over the air; shortly after, the same format was tried on TV. Bob Horn, A WFIL radio deejay, became host of the new televised program "Bob Horn's Bandstand." Within a month, teenagers were invited to come and dance to the records played. The show began a successful run, from 1952 to 1957.
Clark was hosting a similar program on radio and filled in for Horn when on vacation. Then in 1956, Horn was arrested for drunken driving, while the station was conducting an anti-drinking when driving campaign(!!).
Clark took over the show on July 9th. And both became a local success. Clark's clean-cut, boy-next-door, "all-American" image, and the show itself was very reassuring to white, middle-class Americans who felt threatened by this new rock and roll music. (Rock was predominated by black artists at this time and for several years, pre-Beatles.)
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