America's Oldest Teenager: Dick Clark

Dick Clark

Richard Wagstaff Clark was a TV personality known for the shows American Bandstand, $25,000 Pyramid and TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve among others. Sometimes known as "America's oldest teenager," Dick  was one of the most influential figures in popular music. With his show American Bandstand, he helped advance the careers of countless artists, including Paul Anka, Barry Manilow and Madonna.

He was born on November 30th, 1929 in Mount Vernon, New York to Julia and Richard Clark. His only sibling, older brother Bradley, was killed in World War II during the Battle of the Bulge. 

In school, Dick was an average student. When he was 10 years old, he decided to pursue a career in radio.

In 1945, Dick was only 16 years old when began working in the mail room at WRUN, a radio station in New York, that was owned by his uncle and managed by his father. Dick was asked to fill in for the vacationing weatherman, and within a few months he was announcing station breaks.

Dick graduated from Syracuse University in 1951 with a degree in advertising and a minor in radio. While attending Syracuse University Dick worked at WOLF-AM.. After graduation, he returned to WRUN for a short time where he went by the name Dick Clay. After that, Dick got a job at the television station WKTV in 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.

Dick 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.

In 1952, Dick moved to Pennsylvania, where he took a job as a disc jockey at radio station WFIL, adopting the Dick Clark handle. WFIL had an affiliated television station which began broadcasting a show called Bob Horn's Bandstand in 1952. Dick served as a regular substitute host when Horn went on vacation. In 1956, Horn was arrested for drunk driving and was fired. On July 9, 1956, Dick took his place. 

Bandstand was picked up by the ABC television network, renamed American Bandstand, and debuted nationally on August 5, 1957. Due to Dick's natural rapport with the live teenage audience and dancing participants as well as the non-threatening image he projected to television audiences, the show was a hit. Many parents were introduced to rock and roll music thanks to Dick. He helped to integrate the dance floors of a "Black and White" America by inviting black dancers to his show in 1958 just one year after American Bandstand started. Under Clark's influence, American Bandstand became one of the most successful and longest-running musical programs of all time.

In 1958, The Dick Clark Show was added to ABC's Saturday night lineup. Viewership exceeded 20 million, and featured artists were "virtually guaranteed" large sales boosts after appearing. 

In 1959, a television tribute to Dick had an estimated viewership of  50 million people.

Clark became more invested in the music publishing and recording businesses, and began managing artists, hosting live sock hops, and arranging concert tours. 

Dick Clark was inducted in the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8th, 1960. 

Also in 1960, when the United States Senate began investigating  the practice in which music producing companies paid broadcasting companies to favor their products, Dick became caught up in the scandal. The investigation found he had partial copyrights to over 150 songs, many of which were featured on his show. He denied he was involved in any way, but admitted to accepting a fur and jewelry from a record company president.The Senate could not find any illegal actions by Dick, but ABC asked him to either sell his shares in these companies or leave the network so there was no conflict of interest. He chose to sell and continue on as host of "American Bandstand", which was unaffected by the scandal.

Dick moved American Bandstand from Philadelphia to Los Angeles in 1964. He became more involved in television production. Under his company Dick Clark Productions, he produced such shows as "Where the Action Is", "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes", and more recently, "So You Think You Can Dance", as well as made-for-television movies. Dick also hosted television's "$10,000 Pyramid", "TV Bloopers and Practical Jokes" with co-host Ed McMahon, whom he introduced to Johnny Carson. He also hosted "Scattergories", and "The Other Half". Clark also had several radio programs, including "The Dick Clark National Music Survey", "Countdown America", and "Rock, Roll & Remember". 

Dick Clark said on one episode of The $100,000 Pyramid he married Kari Wigton on 7/7/77. At the ceremony there were 7 candles and 7 people in the wedding party. Actor John Davidson's father officiated at the ceremony, and they asked if he could finish the whole ceremony in 17 minutes, which he did.

In 1972, he produced and hosted the very first edition of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve". New Year's Rockin' Eve soon became a cultural tradition, airing on ABC every year with Clark as host. Neither Dick Clark nor his wife drank, even on New Years Eve.

Dick Clark was a huge Flintstones fan and owned a "Bedrock" inspired estate in Malibu, California worth a cool 3.5 million dollars.

In December 2004, Dick suffered a minor stroke and was unable to host, so Regis Philbin stepped in as a substitute. The stroke had left him speech impaired but he returned to host New Year’s Rockin’ Eve show in 2005 along with “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest.

The following year, Clark returned as co-host alongside primary host Ryan Seacrest. Many were worried about Clark due to his slurred and breathless speech, and he admitted on-air he was still recovering but that he wouldn't have missed the broadcast for the world. The following year, Seacrest became New Year's Rockin' Eve's primary host, but Clark always returned for the countdown.

Dick has received several notable awards including four Emmy Awards, the Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994, and the Peabody Award in 1999. He was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1976, The Radio Hall of Fame in 1990, Broadcasting Magazine Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. 

Dick had been in St. John's hospital in Los Angeles after undergoing an outpatient procedure the night of April 17, 2012. Dick suffered a massive heart attack following the procedure. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and he died the next morning of April 18, 2012. He was cremated on April 20, and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.