American Bandstand was a television show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, hosted by Dick Clark, who also served as producer. The show featured teenagers dancing to Top 40-type music introduced by Clark and at least one popular musical act that, over the decades, ran the gamut from Jerry Lee Lewis to Run DMC. They would usually appear in-person to lip-sync one of their latest singles.
The program premiered locally as a live show, Bandstand, on Philadelphia TV station WFIL-TV on October 7, 1952 and was hosted by Bob Horn, with Lee Stewart as co-host until 1955. The series originally featured Horn hosting two collections of filmed musical performances but this was soon changed to the familiar format of having kids dance to hit records. On July 9, 1956, Horn was fired after a drunk driving arrest and was replaced by Dick Clark.
In late spring of 1957, Clark decided to pitch the show to ABC and after some badgering, the program was picked up nationally, becoming American Bandstand on August 5, 1957. The show was broadcast “live” weekday afternoons and in early 1963 all five shows for the upcoming week were videotaped the preceding Saturday. Clark would often interview teens about their opinions of the songs being played, most memorably through the “Rate-a-Record” segments. American Bandstand’s popularity helped Clark become an American media mogul and inspired other similar long-running music programs, such as Soul Train and Top of the Pops.
