Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark was an American radio and television personality, best known for hosting American television's longest-running variety show, American Bandstand, from 1957 to 1987. He also hosted the game show Pyramid and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, which transmitted Times Square's New Year's Eve celebrations worldwide.
As host of American Bandstand, with his strong communication skills, he was a "primary force in legitimizing rock 'n roll," not only to teenagers, but also to America's adult population. The show gave many new music artists their first exposure to national audiences, including Ike and Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, the Talking Heads, and Simon & Garfunkel. His shows were among the first where blacks and whites performed on the same stage and the live audience seating was desegregated. Singer Paul Anka claims that his show was responsible for creating a "youth culture," and due to his youthful appearance, Clark was often referred to as "America's oldest teenager".
As a successful businessperson, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions, part of which he sold late in his life. He also founded the American Bandstand Diner, a restaurant chain modeled after the Hard Rock Cafe. Beginning in 1973, he created and produced the annual American Music Awards show, similar to the Grammy Awards.
Clark suffered a massive stroke in December 2004. With speech ability still impaired, Clark returned to his New Year's Rockin' Eve show on December 31, 2005/January 1, 2006. Subsequently, he appeared at the Emmy Awards on August 27, 2006, and every New Year's Rockin' Eve show through the 2011/2012 show. Clark died on April 18, 2012, after suffering a heart attack following a medical procedure.
He was born on November 30, 1929 in Bronxville, New York, and was raised in nearby Mount Vernon. His only sibling, older brother Bradley, was killed in World War II.
After graduating from A.B. Davis High School (now A.B. Davis Middle School) in 1947, Clark started working in the mailroom at WRUN, an AM radio station in Rome, NY, that was owned by his uncle and managed by his father. Almost immediately, he was asked to fill in for the weatherman, and then within a few months he was announcing station breaks.
While attending Syracuse, Clark worked at WOLF-AM, then a country music station. After graduating in 1951 with a degree in advertising and a minor in radio, he returned to WRUN for a short time where he went by the name Dick Clay. After that, Clark got a job at the television station WKTV in Utica, NY. His first television-hosting job was on the show Cactus Dick and the Santa Fe Riders, which was a country-music program. He later would replace Robert Earle as a newscaster.
Clark was principal in pro broadcasters operator of 1440 KPRO in Riverside, California, from 1962 to 1982. In the 1960s, he was the owner of KGUD AM/FM (later KTYD AM/FM) in Santa Barbara, California
American Bandstand
In 1952, Clark moved to Philadelphia suburb Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, where he took a job as a disc jockey at radio station WFIL, adopting the Dick Clark handle. Clark was responsible for a similar program on the company's radio station, and served as a regular substitute host when Horn went on vacation. In 1956, Horn was arrested for drunk driving and subsequently dismissed. On July 9, 1956, Clark became the show's permanent host.
Clark with audience during 1957 show
Bandstand was picked up by the ABC television network and renamed American Bandstand. It debuted nationally on August 5, 1957 with Clark interviewing Elvis Presley. The show took off, due both to Clark's natural rapport with the live teenage audience and dancing participants and the non-threatening image he projected to television audiences, including many parents being introduced to rock and roll music. In 1958, the show was added ABC's Saturday night line up. By the end of year, viewership had exceeded the 20 million mark, and featured artists were "virtually guaranteed" a large sales boost after appearing on the show.
In the 1960s, the show's emphasis changed from merely playing records to including live performers. During this period, many of the leading rock groups of the 1960s had their first exposure to nationwide audiences. A few of the many artists that were introduced include Ike and Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, the Talking Heads and Tom and Jerry who later would come to be known better as Simon and Garfunkel.
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve
In 1972, Clark produced and hosted Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, the first of an ongoing series of specials still broadcast on New Year's Eve. The program has typically consisted of live remotes of Clark in Times Square in New York City, counting down until the New Year ball comes down. After the ball drops, the focus of the program switches to musical segments taped prior to the show in Hollywood, California. The special is live in the Eastern Time Zone, and it is delayed for the other time zones so that they can ring in the New Year with Clark when midnight strikes in their area.
ABC has broadcast the event on every New Year's Eve since 1972 except in 1999 when it was preempted for ABC 2000 Today, news coverage of the milestone year hosted by Peter Jennings. However, during that broadcast, Clark, along with ABC News correspondent Jack Ford, announced his signature countdown to the new year. He was a correspondent, according to the transcript of the broadcast released by ABC News. Ford had been assigned to Times Square during the broadcast, and thus, Clark's role was limited. Nevertheless, he won a Peabody Award for his coverage.
Clark was unable to host the 2004/05 edition of the show, as he was recovering from his stroke; Regis Philbin substituted as host for him. Having not been seen in public since his stroke, Clark announced in an August 2005 statement that he would be back in Times Square for the annual tradition, bringing along Hilary Duff and Ryan Seacrest as co-hosts. In the same press release, it was announced that Seacrest would eventually take over as the sole host should Clark decide to retire, or be unable to continue. As planned, Clark returned to the show for the 2005/06 countdown, although Ryan Seacrest served as primary host. On air, he stated, "Last year I had a stroke. It left me in bad shape. I had to teach myself how to walk and talk again. It's been a long, hard fight. My speech is not perfect but I'm getting there." Before counting down to 2006, he mentioned he "wouldn't have missed this for the world."
Reaction to Clark's appearance was mixed. While some TV critics (including Tom Shales of The Washington Post, in an interview with the CBS Radio Network) felt he was not in good enough shape to do the broadcast, stroke survivors and many of Clark's fans praised him for being a role model for people dealing with post-stroke recovery.
From 2005 to 2011, Clark co-hosted New Year's Rockin Eve with Seacrest. In the four decades it has been on the air, the show has become a mainstay in U.S. New Year's Eve celebrations. Watching the ball in Times Square drop on Clark's show was considered an annual cultural tradition for the New Year's holiday for the last decades of his life.
Radio programs
Clark also had a long stint as a top-40 radio countdown show host. He began in 1963, hosting a radio program called The Dick Clark Radio Show. It was produced by Mars Broadcasting of Stamford, Connecticut. Despite his enormous popularity on American Bandstand, the show was only picked up by a few dozen stations and lasted less than a year.
Photo of Clark in 1963. His ABC radio show was called "Dick Clark Reports".
On March 25, 1972, Clark hosted American Top 40, filling in for Casey Kasem. In 1981, he created The Dick Clark National Music Survey for the Mutual Broadcasting System. The program counted down the Top 30 contemporary hits of the week in direct competition with American Top 40. Clark left Mutual in 1986, and Charlie Tuna took over the National Music Survey. Clark then launched his own radio syndication group; the United Stations Radio Network, or Unistar, and took over the countdown program, "Countdown America". It ran until 1994, when Clark sold Unistar to Westwood One Radio. The following year, Clark started over, building a new version of the USRN and a new countdown show: "The U.S. Music Survey". He served as its host until his 2004 stroke.
Dick Clark's longest running radio show began on February 14, 1982. "Rock, Roll & Remember" was a four hour oldies show named after Clark's 1976 autobiography. The first year, it was hosted by veteran Los Angeles disc jockey Gene Weed. Then in 1983 voice over talent Mark Elliot co-hosted with Clark. By 1985, Clark hosted the entire show. Pam Miller served as producer. Each week, Clark would profile a different artist from the Rock and Roll era. He would also count down the top four songs that week from a certain year in the 1950s, 1960s or early 1970s. The show ended production when Clark suffered his 2004 stroke. However, re-runs continue to air in syndication and on Clark's website "dickclarkonline.com".
Beginning in 2009, Clark merged elements of "Rock, Roll and Remember" with the syndicated oldies show, "Rewind with Gary Bryan". The new show was called "Dick Clark Presents Rewind with Gary Bryan". Bryan, a Los Angeles radio personality, serves as the main host. Clark contributed profile segments.
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