Remembering Dick Clark

Dick Clark’s 60 year long career began in 1952, when he moved from his home in New York to Philadelphia, to be a disc jockey at WFIL radio station.

Just four years later he was asked to host American Bandstand, taking over for Bob Horn. He built the show up from a small local program into a national success.


Bandstand’s 30 year run first brought attention to the what would become the world’s biggest musicians such as Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, The Doors, Blondie and Madonna.

In the 1960s he was called to testify during the investigation into the payola scandal about bribery in the record industry. His career was almost derailed by it, but he avoided trouble by selling his stock in a record company.

He briefly hosted The Dick Clark Radio Show in 1963, but the program only lasted less than a year.

His biggest success outside of American Bandstand began in 1972, when he began producing and hosting the annual Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve where he shared hosting duties with Ryan Secrest after suffering a stroke in 2004.

In 1973 he began hosting one of the most successful game shows of its time, The $10,000 Pyramid. He received multiple Emmy Awards for Best Game Show Host during his run as host of the show from 1973 until 1988.

In 1974, at the request of ABC who had just lost the right to broadcast The Grammy Awards, he began the American Music Awards as direct competition for The Grammys. Oddly enough he never once hosted the program, which still runs to this day.

In 1993 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, highlighted for his condemnation of censorship, defending artistic freedom and being one of the first to give African American artists proper representation and exposure.

In 2001 he co-hosted the male answer to The View, called The Other Half. The short-lived program only lasted two seasons, failing to find an audience, but still earned a few Emmy nominations.

In 2002 he produced the television show American Dreams, based around the lives of two teenagers in the 1960s who aspired to be dancers on American Bandstand.

During his long career he won many awards and was inducted into several Halls of Fame, including the Hollywood Walk of Fame, National Radio Hall of Fame, Broadcasting Magazine Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.

Sources: Wikipedia, National Post, CBS, MTV, Washington Post