American Bandstand

American Bandstand, abbreviated AB, is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired regularly in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the program's producer. It featured teenagers dancing to Top 40 music introduced by Clark; at least one popular musical act—over the decades, running the gamut from Jerry Lee Lewis to Run–D.M.C.—usually appeared in person to lip-sync one of their latest singles. Artists would sing naturally to the studio audience over a background of their own disc, while viewers at home would hear only the original recording. Freddy Cannon holds the record for most appearances, at 110. The show's popularity helped Clark become a media mogul and inspired similar long-running music programs, such as Soul Train and British series Top of the Pops. Clark eventually assumed ownership of the program through his Dick Clark Productions company. Background American Bandstand premiered locally in late March 1952 as Bandstand on Philadelphia television station WFIL-TV Channel 6 (now WPVI-TV), as a replacement for a weekday movie that had shown predominantly British films. Hosted by Bob Horn as a television adjunct to his radio show of the same name on WFIL radio, 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 became popular in the 1980s, featuring films that were the ancestors of music videos.