By: Billy Gee
There you are! I figured you’d make it on time, but admittedly, I was getting a bit worried there for a minute. Here’s hoping that this Holiday Season has been most festive, filled with fun and frolic. (Easy on that egg nog!)
Without any further ado, let’s get the ball a-rollin’ with this month’s topic. As this is January—the beginning of the New Year, it seemed appropriate to start off 2006 with a discussion about a man whose very name is synonymous with New Year’s Eve itself (as well as with rock ‘n’ roll music, itself!) —a guy who is often referred to as the “World’s Oldest Teenager”—none other than Mr. Dick Clark!
Born Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929 in Bronxville, NY), Clark began his illustrious career in show business in 1945 with a modest job in the mailroom of radio station WRUN in Utica, NY. Soon however, the station (owned, incidentally, by his uncle and managed by his father) promoted him to weatherman and news reporter.
After graduating from Syracuse University in 1951, he landed his first job in television job at WKTV, also in Utica. His first assignment as a TV host was on a country music show called “Cactus Dick and the Santa Fe Raiders.”
One year later Clark moved to Philadelphia and was hired as a disc jockey at radio station WFIL, whose TV affiliate, WFIL-TV, broadcast a local program called Bob Horn’s Bandstand. He became a regular fill-in on the show, and when Horn left in 1956 as a result of a drunk driving arrest, Clark ascended to the enviable position of full-time host. The following year, the show was picked up by ABC, renamed American Bandstand, and aired for the first time on August 5, 1957. The show was a huge success, viewed by millions of teens (and ADULTS!) daily until 1963, and weekly from then until 1987. Those who are familiar with this aspect of pop music history will recall that under Clark’s leadership, “Bandstand” provided a countless array of recording artists (both white AND black!) with their first opportunity to appear on a nationally broadcast TV program.
Soul Train, an African-American teen-oriented dance/music show sprang forth in 1970, ostensibly due to the unprecedented success of Clark’s American Bandstand.” Interestingly, this “black American Bandstand” is still alive and kicking. Broadcast nationally every Saturday, it lays claim to being “the longest running first-run syndicated program in television history.”
In 1959, the U.S. Senate opened its investigation into the practice of record companies offering money and other gratuities in exchange for airplay, otherwise known as “payola.” As a major figure in both camps, Clark was investigated and testified before Congress the following year. Although no charges were filed against him, he was required by ABC to divest his publishing and recording interests.
On December 31, 1972 Clark hit the airwaves once again with New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, which has become an American Holiday Season tradition. The program consists of live remotes of Clark in New York’s Times Square, counting the remaining few seconds of each “old year” as the New Year’s ball descends. After the ball drops, the focus shifts to prerecorded music segments. This annual event is broadcast live in the Eastern Time Zone, and replayed via videotape in the remaining three time zones, so that they too can welcome the New Year with Clark at the stroke of midnight in their respective time zones. When his health became an issue due to a stroke in 2004, Regis Philbin (Live with Regis and Kelly) hosted the show that year, but In August 2005 it was announced that Ryan Seacrest of American Idol fame would become the executive producer, the co-host with Clark, and eventually the sole host, of the show.
‘Looks like the old tick-tock on the wall is saying that our time is just about up. I’ll look forward to seeing you next time, right here as always. Until then, why not make a New Year’s resolution to laugh and smile more? That’s one thing, for sure, that’ll make this ole world of ours a happier place.