Dick Clark's career spans well over five decades. He was born Richard Wagstaff Clark in Mount Vernon, New York, on November 30, 1929, and started out at WRUN in Utica, New York, as a mailroom clerk. Clark was eventually promoted to news and weatherman. In 1951, he graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in business administration.

In 1952, Dick Clark made the move to Philadelphia and, four years later, became the host of Bandstand (a.k.a. American Bandstand) for WFIL-TV. In 1957, a year after he began hosting Bandstand, Clark convinced ABC to take it to the national level. By 1959, it was picked up by over 100 affiliates and reached over 20,000,000 viewers. Clark also changed the show's all-white policy and introduced a lot of talented black artists to the masses, undoubtedly changing the face of American popular culture.