Affectionately known as “America’s oldest teenager,” Dick Clark was significant in transforming the record business into an international industry. As host of American Bandstand, Clark provided many acts with the opportunity to reach a national audience via television, spreading the gospel of rock and roll to teenagers across the country. Born Richard W. Clark in 1929, he entered the music business as a sales manager for an upstate New York radio station at age seventeen. In 1952, he began doing a radio show ("Caravan of Music") at WFIL in Philadelphia. The station’s TV affiliate had a teen-oriented show called Bandstand that was taken over in 1956 by Clark. He was such an affable, magnetic host that Bandstand was picked up for national distribution by ABC in 1957. With Clark as businessman, personality, music lover and host, American Bandstand catapulted to popularity and, in 1996, celebrated its fortieth anniversary.

Though his demeanor was low-key and agreeable, Clark did not shrink when it came time to defend rock and roll. He stood up for the music when it was under attack from censorious voices who branded it immoral. By playing R&B records by the original artists on his show, Clark helped stop the longstanding practice whereby records by black artists were “covered” in lame, sanitized versions by white artists, thereby robbing the former of income and recognition. Such figures as Buddy Holly and James Brown made their national debut on American Bandstand. The show’s success helped spread the word throughout the entertainment industry that rock and roll was no fluke. Although Clark has subsequently moved on to other areas of TV that have little to do with music, his weekly televised record hops - which predated MTV by 25 years - played an integral role in establishing rock and roll, keeping it alive and shaping its future.”

On April 18, 2012, Dick Clark died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California. He was 82 years old.