1950s talks to Myrna Horowitz, one of the original dancers when the program began in 1952, during the show's 18th anniversary in 1970|alt=
American Bandstand premiered locally in late March 1952 as
Bandstand on Philadelphia television station WFIL-TV Channel 6 (now
WPVI-TV). Hosted by
Bob Horn as a television adjunct to his
radio show of the same name on
WFIL,
Bandstand featured short
musical films produced by
Snader Telescriptions and
Official Films, with occasional studio guests. This incarnation was an early version of the
music video shows that would increasingly appear in the
1980s. Desiring a pivot, Horn wanted to change the show to a
dance program featuring teenagers dancing on camera as music
records played. The radio show,
The 950 Club, hosted by
Joe Grady and
Ed Hurst, inspired the format, which aired on Philadelphia's
WPEN. and he was also reportedly involved in a
prostitution ring, for which he faced morality charges. WFIL and its co-owner,
Walter Annenberg's
The Philadelphia Inquirer, were running a series on drunk driving at the time of
Horn's arrest. Mammarella temporarily replaced Horn before the job went to
Dick Clark permanently. One show from this first season of
American Bandstand on December 18, 1957, identified as the "Second National Broadcast," is preserved in the archives of the
Museum of Broadcast Communications in
Chicago. One market not broadcasting
Bandstand was ABC's then-
Baltimore affiliate
WJZ-TV Channel 13 (formerly WAAM), which chose to produce its own local dance show in the same afternoon time slot. Local radio disc jockey
Buddy Deane was chosen as the host of
The Buddy Deane Show on WJZ-TV, and began a daily two-hour broadcast on September 9, 1957. This led to competition between
American Bandstand and
The Buddy Deane Show. When performers who debuted on
Bandstand first appeared on Deane's program, they were asked to not mention their prior appearance with Clark.
The Buddy Deane Show aired on WJZ-TV until January 4, 1964. The show was briefly shot in
color in 1958 when WFIL-TV began experimenting with the new technology. With the larger size of the color camera, it was only possible to have one
RCA TK-41 where three RCA TK-10s had been used before, as production needed to maintain as much dance space as possible in the studio. WFIL reverted to the TK-10s two weeks later when ABC refused to carry the color signal and management realized that the show needed multiple black-and-white cameras to capture more angles. When
ABC picked up the game show
Do You Trust Your Wife? from
CBS in November 1957, they renamed the program
Who Do You Trust? and scheduled the program at 3:30 p.m. ET, almost halfway through
Bandstand's slot. Instead of shortening or moving
Bandstand,
ABC opted to air
Bandstand at 3:00 p.m., cut away to
Who Do You Trust? at 3:30 p.m., then rejoin
Bandstand at 4:00 p.m. However, WFIL decided to broadcast
Bandstand in its entirety and air
Who Do You Trust? at a later time for local Philadelphia viewers. A half-hour evening version of
American Bandstand aired on Monday nights from 7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET, beginning on October 7, 1957, preceding
The Guy Mitchell Show. Both shows received low ratings and were cancelled shortly after their debut. The Monday night version aired its last program in December 1957, but ABC gave Clark a Saturday night time slot for
The Dick Clark Saturday Night Beechnut Show, which originated from the
Little Theatre in
Manhattan, beginning February 15, 1958. In the fall of 1961, ABC truncated
American Bandstand's airtime from 90 to 60 minutes (4:00–5:00 p.m. ET), then even further as a daily half-hour (4:00–4:30 p.m. ET) program in September 1962. Beginning in early 1963, all five shows for the upcoming week were
videotaped the previous Saturday. The use of videotape allowed Clark to produce and host a series of concert tours based on the success of
American Bandstand and pursue other broadcast interests. When WFIL-TV moved to a new facility on
City Line Avenue, the new facility lacked a studio that could accommodate the show, ABC moved production of
Bandstand to the ABC Television Center in
Los Angeles, now known as
The Prospect Studios, on February 8, 1964. Prior to the move,
Bandstand featured many of its up-and-coming acts from Philadelphia's
Cameo-Parkway Records. The move to
California coincided with a downturn in
Cameo-Parkway Records' influence, which diminished the exposure many of its artists. The program was filmed in color starting on September 9, 1967. The typical production schedule consisted of videotaping three shows on a Saturday and three shows on a Sunday, every six weeks. The shows were usually produced in either Stage 54 or Stage 55 at
ABC Television Center.
1970s For a brief time in 1973,
Bandstand alternated its time slot with
Soul Unlimited, a show featuring
soul music that was hosted by
Buster Jones.
Soul Unlimited faced criticism from some
African-American viewers who questioned Clark's role as a white producer and accused the show of reinforcing racial stereotypes.
Don Cornelius, the creator-producer and host of
Soul Train, along with
Jesse Jackson, publicly opposed Clark's involvement in the new program, and it was canceled within weeks. Set pieces from
Soul Unlimited were utilized by
Bandstand for its 1974–1978 set design.
1980s During the early 1980s,
American Bandstand experienced a steady decline in
ratings. This was largely due to increased competition from emerging music television formats such as
MTV, as well as a growing number of music programs across other networks. Many
ABC affiliates began preempting or rescheduling the show, further reducing its viewership. Additionally, the show's time slot was frequently overtaken by
college football broadcasts, which had expanded significantly following a 1984
court-ordered deregulation.
1985: 33 1/3rd anniversary and 1989 cancellation On December 1, 1985, American Bandstand aired a special 33 1/3rd anniversary broadcast on ABC. The show featured performances by numerous recording artists, guest appearances, and archival footage from past screenings. Performing artists included
Rod Stewart,
Dionne Warwick, and
Donna Summer. On September 13, 1986, ABC reduced
Bandstand from a full hour to 30 minutes at Clark's request. On September 5, 1987, the final ABC installment (with
Laura Branigan performing "
Shattered Glass") aired. Two weeks later,
Bandstand moved to first-run syndication. Dubbed as
The New American Bandstand and distributed by
LBS Communications, the series' tapings were moved from the ABC Television Center to the Hollywood studios of Los Angeles's
PBS member station
KCET, with a new set similar to that of
Soul Train. Clark continued as host of the series, which was returned to a one-hour format, and aired on
KYW-TV in Philadelphia and
WWOR-TV in
New York City (a
Superstation status that also gave the program further national exposure),
KTLA in Los Angeles,
WMAQ-TV in
Chicago,
WDIV in
Detroit,
WEWS in
Cleveland,
WTMJ-TV in
Milwaukee, and
WCIX in
Miami. The first syndicated episode aired on the weekend of September 19, 1987. The run was short-lived, lasting until June 4, 1988. After a ten-month hiatus,
Bandstand moved to
cable on
USA Network on April 8, 1989, with comedian
David Hirsch taking over as host. In another format shift, the show was shot outdoors at
Universal Studios Hollywood. Clark remained with the show, serving as its executive producer. This iteration of the show, however, was also brief, lasting 26 weeks before it was canceled. Its final show, with
The Cover Girls performing "My Heart Skips a Beat" and "
We Can't Go Wrong", aired on October 7, 1989, ending the show's 37-year run. The show was a ratings success from 1957 to 1979 but by the early and mid 1980s ratings had started to decline. By the late 1980s the show's ratings had dropped significantly, its traditional live format of teenagers dancing to popular hits increasingly viewed as outdated compared to newer music programs such as MTV and Soul Train, which offered music videos, artist interviews, and more edgy content. The show was finally canceled in 1989.
2002: 50th anniversary On May 3, 2002, Dick Clark hosted a one-off special 50th anniversary edition on ABC.
Michael Jackson, a frequent
Bandstand guest, performed "
Dangerous."
The Village People performed their signature song "
YMCA" for the audience in Pasadena, California. Other performers, including
Brandy, members of
Kiss,
Dennis Quaid and his band The Sharks,
Cher, and
Stevie Wonder performed in honor of the long-running program. ==Program features==