Dick Clark
Richard Wagstaff Clark was an American television and radio personality and television producer who hosted American Bandstand from 1956 to 1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid game show from 1973 to 1988 and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, which broadcast New Year's Eve celebrations in New York City's Times Square.
As host of American Bandstand, Clark introduced rock and roll to many Americans. The show gave many new music artists their first exposure to national audiences, including The Supremes, Ike & Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Simon & Garfunkel, Iggy Pop, Prince, Talking Heads and Madonna. Episodes he hosted were among the first in which black people and white people performed on the same stage, and they were among the first in which the live studio audience sat down together without racial segregation. Singer Paul Anka claimed that Bandstand was responsible for creating a "youth culture". Due to his perennially youthful appearance and his largely teenaged audience of American Bandstand, Clark was often referred to as "America's oldest teenager" or "the world's oldest teenager".
In his off-stage roles, Clark served as chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions. He also founded the American Bandstand Diner, a restaurant chain themed after the television program of the same name. In 1973, he created and produced the annual American Music Awards show, similar to the Grammy Awards.
Early life
Clark was born on November 30, 1929, in Bronxville, New York, and raised in neighboring Mount Vernon, the second child of Richard Augustus Clark and Julia Fuller Clark, née Barnard. His only sibling, elder brother Bradley, a World War II P-47 Thunderbolt pilot, was killed in the Battle of the Bulge.Clark attended Mount Vernon's A.B. Davis High School, where he was an average student. At the age of 10, Clark decided to pursue a career in radio. In pursuit of that goal, he attended Syracuse University, graduating in 1951 with a degree in advertising and a minor in radio. While at Syracuse, he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
Radio and television career
In 1945, Clark began his career working in the mailroom at WRUN, an AM radio station in Utica, New York, that was owned by his uncle and managed by his father. Almost immediately, he was asked to fill in for the vacationing weatherman and, within a few months, he was announcing station breaks.While attending Syracuse, Clark worked at WOLF-AM, then a country music station. After graduation, 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, New York. His first television-hosting job was on Cactus Dick and the Santa Fe Riders, a country-music program. He later replaced Robert Earle as a newscaster.
In addition to his announcing duties on radio and television, Clark owned several radio stations. From 1964 to 1978, he owned KPRO in Riverside, California under the name Progress Broadcasting. In 1967, he purchased KGUD-AM-FM in Santa Barbara, California.
''American Bandstand''
In 1952, Clark moved to Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, a section of Upper Darby just outside of Philadelphia, where he took a job as a disc jockey at radio station WFIL, adopting the Dick Clark handle. WFIL had an affiliated television station with the same call sign, which began broadcasting a show called Bob Horn's Bandstand in 1952. 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 was subsequently dismissed. On July 9, 1956, Clark became the show's permanent host.Bandstand was picked up by the ABC television network, renamed American Bandstand, and debuted nationally on August 5, 1957. The show took off, due to Clark's natural rapport with the live teenage audience and dancing participants as well as the "clean-cut, non-threatening image" he projected to television audiences. As a result, many parents were introduced to rock and roll music. According to Hollywood producer Michael Uslan, "he was able to use his unparalleled communication skills to present rock 'n roll in a way that was palatable to parents." James Sullivan of Rolling Stone stated that "Without Clark, rock & roll in its infancy would have struggled mightily to escape the common perception that it was just a passing fancy."
In 1958, The Dick Clark Show was added to ABC's Saturday night lineup. By the end of year, viewership exceeded 20 million, and featured artists were "virtually guaranteed" large sales boosts after appearing. In a surprise television tribute to Clark in 1959 on This Is Your Life, host Ralph Edwards called him "America's youngest starmaker", and estimated the show had an audience of 50 million.
Clark moved the show from Philadelphia to Los Angeles in 1964. The move was related to the popularity of new "surf" groups based in southern California, including The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. After moving to Los Angeles, the show became more diverse and featured more minorities. The show was notable for promoting desegregation in popular music and entertainment by prominently featuring black musicians and dancers. Prior to this point, the show had largely excluded black teenagers.
The show ran daily Monday through Friday until 1963, then weekly on Saturdays until 1988. Bandstand was briefly revived in 1989, with David Hirsch taking over hosting duties. By the time of its cancellation, the show had become the longest-running variety show in TV history.
In the 1960s, the show's emphasis changed from merely playing records to including live performers. During this period, many of the leading rock bands and artists of the 1960s had their first exposure to nationwide audiences. A few of the many artists introduced were The Supremes, Ike and Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Simon and Garfunkel, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Bobby Fuller, Johnny Cash, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino and Chubby Checker.
During an interview with Clark by Henry Schipper of Rolling Stone magazine in 1990, it was noted that "over two-thirds of the people who've been initiated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had their television debuts on American Bandstand, and the rest of them probably debuted on other shows produced." During the show's lifetime, it featured over 10,000 live performances, many by artists who were unable to appear anywhere else on TV, as the variety shows during much of this period were "antirock". Schipper points out that Clark's performers were shocking to general audiences:
Clark was therefore considered to have a negative influence on youth and was well aware of that impression held by most adults:
In 2002, many of the bands he introduced appeared at the 50th anniversary special to celebrate American Bandstand. Clark noted during the special that American Bandstand was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as "the longest-running variety show in TV history." In 2010, American Bandstand and Clark himself were honored at the Daytime Emmy Awards. Hank Ballard, who wrote "The Twist", described Clark's popularity during the early years of American Bandstand:
As a result of Clark's work on Bandstand, journalist Ann Oldenburg states "he deserves credit for doing something bigger than just putting on a show." Los Angeles Times writer Geoff Boucher goes further, stating that "with the exception of Elvis Presley, Clark was considered by many to be the person most responsible for the bonfire spread of rock 'n roll across the country in the late 1950s", making Clark a "household name". He became a "primary force in legitimizing rock 'n' roll", adds Uslan. Clark, however, simplified his contribution:
Shortly after becoming its host, Clark also ended the show's all-white policy by featuring black artists such as Chuck Berry. In time, blacks and whites performed on the same stage, and studio seating was desegregated. Beginning in 1959 and continuing into the mid-1960s, Clark produced and hosted the Caravan of Stars, a series of concert tours built upon the success of American Bandstand, which by 1959 had a national audience of 20 million. However, Clark was unable to host Elvis Presley, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones on either of his programs.
The reason for Clark's impact on popular culture has been partially explained by Paul Anka, a singer who appeared on the show early in his career: "This was a time when there was no youth culture—he created it. And the impact of the show on people was enormous." In 1990, a couple of years after the show had been off the air, Clark considered his personal contribution to the music he helped introduce:
Payola hearings
In 1960, the United States Senate investigated payola, the practice of music-producing companies paying broadcasting companies to favor their product. As a result, Clark's personal investments in music publishing and recording companies were considered a conflict of interest, and he sold his shares in those companies. This also included the "roughly 150 pop songs from which he earned royalties as a credited 'songwriter.'"When asked about some of the causes for the hearings, Clark speculated about some of the contributing factors not mentioned by the press:
As reported by a New York Times Magazine interview with Dick Clark, Gene Shalit was Clark's press agent in the early 1960s. Shalit reportedly "stopped representing" Clark during the Congressional investigation of payola. Clark never spoke to Shalit again, and referred to him as a "jellyfish".
Game show host
Beginning in late 1963, Clark branched out into hosting game shows, presiding over The Object Is. The show was canceled in 1964 and replaced by Missing Links, which had moved from NBC. Clark took over as host, replacing Ed McMahon.Clark became the first host of The $10,000 Pyramid, which premiered on CBS March 26, 1973. The show—a word-association game created and produced by daytime television producer Bob Stewart—moved to ABC in 1974. Over the coming years, the top prize changed several times, and several primetime spinoffs were created.
As the program moved back to CBS in September 1982, Clark continued to host the daytime version through most of its history, winning three Emmy Awards for best game show host. In total, Pyramid won nine Emmy Awards for best game show during his run, a mark that is eclipsed only by the twelve won by the syndicated version of Jeopardy!. Clark's final Pyramid hosting gig, The $100,000 Pyramid, ended in 1988.
Clark subsequently returned to Pyramid as a guest in later incarnations. During the premiere of the John Davidson version in 1991, Clark sent a pre-recorded message wishing Davidson well in hosting the show. In 2002, Clark played as a celebrity guest for three days on the Donny Osmond version. Earlier, he was also a guest during the Bill Cullen version of The $25,000 Pyramid, which aired simultaneously with Clark's daytime version of the show.
Entertainment Weekly credited Clark's "quietly commanding presence" as a major factor in the game show's success.
Clark hosted the syndicated television game show The Challengers, during its only season. The Challengers was a co-production between the production companies of Dick Clark and Ron Greenberg. During the 1990–91 season, Clark and Greenberg also co-produced a revival of Let's Make a Deal for NBC with Bob Hilton as the host. Hilton was later replaced by original host Monty Hall. Clark later hosted Scattergories on NBC in 1993; and The Family Channel's version of It Takes Two in 1997. In 1999, along with Bob Boden, he was one of the executive producers of Fox's TV game show Greed, which ran from November 5, 1999, to July 14, 2000, and was hosted by Chuck Woolery. At the same time, Clark also hosted the Stone-Stanley-created Winning Lines, which ran for six weeks on CBS from January 8 through February 12, 2000, Geraldo Rivera was actually supposed to host Winning Lines but couldn't agree on the contract, so CBS selected Clark to host.
He concluded his game show hosting career with another of his productions, Challenge of the Child Geniuses, a series of two two-hour specials broadcast on Fox in May and November 2000.