“I was a very young fellow," noted Clark. "That show was getting huge audiences in Philadelphia. Sixty-five percent of the people watched Bandstand">Bandstand when it was in Philadelphia. It wiped out all the competition. I said ‘It doesn’t matter. It isn’t just Philadelphia, this is a universal language. It will work everywhere. Trust us, it will work. Give us five weeks.’ And in August of 1957, they did, and, as they say, the rest is history.”

Renamed

American Bandstand">Bandstand

, the show became one of TV’s longest running series and was a part of network’s lineup from 1957 to 1987.

Everyone who was anyone in the pop music business performed on

Bandstand

, from Jerry Lee Lewis and the Jackson Five to Prince and the Talking Heads. Paul Anka launched his career on

American Bandstand">Bandstand

in 1957 with the song “Diana.”

“I think Dick has been very massive, in that he was the first and one-of-a kind who allowed all of us that conduit [pipeline] to the public," Anka said. "Who not only was a very viable force then, but stayed contemporary through all of these years and uniquely kept everything that he was about very special.”

His initial television success led Dick Clark to diversify. He soon moved into the music publishing and record business, which the US government later saw as a possible conflict of interest. At the time, payola, or bribery, was widespread in the music industry, with record companies paying DJ’s to play their records. Clark was a prime target of a Congressional investigation into this illegal activity. He was cleared of any suspicions, but was required by ABC to sell his publishing and recording companies in order to keep his television show.